Have you ever pulled up to a metered parking spot and found that the driver who just left the space still had time left on the meter? It's like getting free money, especially if that leftover time is enough for you to run your errand without having to feed the meter. But the folks in Denver are testing out new sensors that would delete any remaining time when you drive away from the meter. More »
As we've pointed out before, it's illegal for companies to make auto-dialed, pre-recorded calls to your wireless device unless you have given them your consent. But that hasn't stopped some offenders from continuing, even after they have been told to stop. More »
Have you bought coconut water, pinot noir, a Samsung TV, or an iPhone 4? If you purchased any of these products, plus a whole bunch more, you may be eligible to file a claim in one of these recently settled class action lawsuits. Proof of purchase isn't always required, but lying is bad consumer karma. More »
College debt is one of the few debts that can't be discharged in bankruptcy, unless you have a really, really good reason. You pretty much have to be dead or have a debilitating disability that keeps you from working. So it caught the attention of the National Law Journal when a Maryland woman in her 60s had $339,361 in college debt discharged in bankruptcy court earlier this month. More »
A Massachusetts man says that when he decided to build a large tomato-growing structure in his front yard, he checked with the city who said it was going to be fine. Then as soon as the hanging garden went up, the city said it had to come down. More »
Anonymous hate-mongering,name-calling and venom-spitting has been around the Internet since before many of the people reading this post even had an e-mail address. While most of us have just come to accept that this is part of the cost of having an online community, state lawmakers in New York have drafted legislation that intends to do away with anonymous commenting. More »
Using a prepaid credit card and reloading at your convenience sounds like a great idea in theory, but there are many hidden fees and dangers involved. That's why the Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today to adopt new rules to protect consumers who rely on prepaid cards. More »
Mexican fast food chain Chipotle announced yesterday that it's the subject of an investigation by federal prosecutors into the possibility that it violated criminal securities laws with its hiring practices. More »
Last month, the FCC approved a new rule that requires broadcasters who air political ads to post on their websites the rates they charge — and other related information — for these commercials. This isn't sitting well with the broadcasters, who filed suit to stop the rule change. More »
No more knockoffs for you, Guess-wearing Gucci aficionados: The battle of the designer G's has come to an end that will mean some fans of the cheaper Guess goods won't be able to buy certain products anymore. That's because a judge ruled that Guess was infringing on some of Gucci's trademark designs, and awarded Gucci just $4.6 million in the process as well. More »
A high school in Utah says it won't be able to pay for some of its arts programs this year because it's been hit with a $15,000 federal fine after the school's bookstore was caught allegedly selling soda during lunch time. More »
You may not be familiar with the term "drip pricing," but you're probably all too familiar with the concept. It's when a company advertises only one part of a product's price and doesn't reveal other associated charges until later in the the buying process. More »
News flash: you can't work out by not working out. As we predicted in November, the Federal Trade Commission has settled with shoemaker Skechers over claims that their rounded-bottom Shape-Up shoes helped wearers to tone their lower-body muscles and lose weight. These claims were all over ads and promotional material for the shoes, including an ad that aired during the 2011 Super Bowl. More »
Loyal Consumerist readers and retail-watchers may remember the 2010 incident in which a 16-year-old took over the PA system of a New Jersey Walmart and announced, "Attention Walmart customers: all black people must leave the store." The prankster had done the same thing a few months before, and was charged with harassment and bias intimidation for each incident. Now, more than two years later, someone has filed a lawsuit against the store over the incident. He claims to have been in the store at the time of the prank, and that the incident led to "depression, anxiety, anger, loss of sleep and appetite, paranoia, and antisocial tendencies." More »
Remember the year you couldn't even find a babysitting job and cashed out all your savings bonds just to afford groceries and beer? The U.S. Social Security Administration does, and now all of your past earning info and more is online, ready and waiting for you to walk down memory lane or prepare for your future. More »
The Federal Trade Commission and defendants in a debt collection operation have reached a proposed settlement, after the FTC had alleged in its complaint that the defendants knew, or should have known, that not all the magazine subscription debts they were trying to collect on were valid. There's also a line in there about pretending to be Ed McMahon, which is just so wrong. More »
Sadly, the Philadelphia Flyers' Stanley Cup hopes were dashed into the boards last night by the New Jersey Devils. But season ticket holders still have something to get riled up about, as they try to call team owners Comcast Spectacor for legal high-sticking. More »
It's a pretty big case of "Ooops," on the part of the Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation, which forgot to follow its own regulations when it determined the speed limit on a new stretch of road in Salem. Now, nearly 900 speeding tickets could be reversed — if the drivers are willing to go to court. More »
The federal crackdown on the practice of landline bill-cramming — the slathering on of charges for often unauthorized third-party services onto consumers' phone bills — continues, with the Federal Trade Commission accusing the country's largest third-party billing business of attempting to cram $70 million worth of bogus charges down consumers' throats. More »
If you've got a mortgage on your home, it needs to be insured. So if you stop paying that insurance premium, the bank will often go out and get insurance for you. Problem is, according to Bloomberg News, those policies cover less, cost more and will likely just end up putting you into foreclosure anyway. More »
I've heard a rumor that there are a number of Tumblr pages that may feature nudity. Furthermore, some of these pages contain nude images to which someone else holds the copyright. One such copyright holder has filed a lawsuit against Tumblr which, if successful, could impact a lot more than just pictures of boobs, buns and bits. More »
United Kingdom Internet users won't have to suddenly shut their eyes in shock when "accidentally" happening upon a pornographic web site, if the Prime Minister can figure out whether or not the government can just block all porn. For its citizens' sakes, of course. More »
The FBI really wants to know why you won't just make it your Facebook friend or add it to your Google+ circle. That's why the bureau has reportedly been asking those companies, along with Microsoft, Yahoo and others, to not impede its proposal to require back doors that would give the feds easy access for snooping. More »
A growing number of people believe that obese Americans should pay more in taxes than healthy folks since being overweight can put you at a higher risk for health problems. It's similar to the logic used to justify additional taxes on cigarettes. But bioethicist Art Caplan asks: Why not tax cat owners more while we're at it? More »
The taxpayers of Philadelphia have unwittingly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars paying the electric, gas, and water bills for a posh restaurant, all because the city says it simply goofed. But now that they know about it, the restaurant will be compelled to pay that money back, right? Not quite. More »
If smoking near your computer turns it into a biohazard, what does urinating on it do? According to local police, a Pennsylvania elementary school found out when an 11-year-old student emptied his bladder on a cart full of MacBooks. This hilarious prank destroyed more than $36,000 worth of computers. More »
The United States government is hip to social networking, and because it knows all about the Facebook and the Twittering, it wants you to be prepared with a social will in the event of your demise. After all, there have been reports of the families of deceased people having trouble gaining access to those kinds of accounts. More »
For 1,200 people in California that were told to show up for jury duty this week, there was good news and bad news. The good news was they really didn't have jury duty that day. The bad news? About 800 of those notified hoofed it all the way to the courthouse just because of a computer glitch. More »
If you found a million dollars sitting in a convenience store trash can, would you take it? In that case, it's probably better to call the police. But when an Arkansas woman scanned her lottery ticket and learned it was a loser, she tossed it in the garbage. Another customer who likes to check discarded tickets for small winnings found the ticket and learned that it was worth one million dollars.More »
Everyone agrees that the U.S. debt has risen to scary heights. What not everyone agrees on is what needs to be done to keep the debt from going past the point of no return. Now comes a new interactive tool that lets you try your hand at deciding what sacrifices we all need to make. More »
We don't know why people still fall prey to infomercials promising easy paths to riches. And yet, the Federal Trade Commission says a trio of popular get-rich-quick programs — all backed by the same two people — took consumers for a total of $450 million by misleading them into believing they could quickly earn piles of cash in real estate or Internet marketing. More »
It's hard to find any travelers with nice things to say about the Transportation Safety Administration, but members of the Sikh faith really have a grievance. They claim that they're singled out for secondary screening at airport security to an extent that's discriminatory, and frequently ordered to allow inspections or removal of their turbans. So they're fighting back in 21st century fashion: with a smartphone app. More »
Thirty-five years ago, the state of New Jersey accidentally overpaid on a teenager's unemployment claim to the tune of $73. Now the Garden State wants that money back. More »
While some states are taking steps toward protecting workers against current or potential employers from snooping around in Facebook accounts, federal lawmakers are also pushing similar legislation. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and and Rep. Eliot Engel, of New York, both Democrats, have introduced a new bill to Congress regarding the matter. More »
File-sharing in the United Kingdom just got a little bit more difficult, as the nation's High Court has ordered the country's largest internet providers to completely block access to BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay. More »
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a new appointment today, that of Stuart Ishimaru as the leader of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at the bureau. Previously, Ishimaru was the acting chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. So he knows his stuff, ostensibly. More »
An atheist group in Texas is claiming discrimination after a local movie theater backed out of an agreement to run ads for the organization during pre-movie slideshows. More »
Health insurance providers have a long history of telling individual policyholders — and people shopping for individual policies — that their care isn't covered or their policy is voided because of a pre-existing condition. Starting in 2014, that is all supposed to stop when a condition of the Affordable Care Act kicks in, making it illegal for health insurers in the individual market to deny coverage, increase premiums, or restrict benefits because of a pre-existing condition. Question is: Just how many people are we talking about? More »
State employees in Florida can now get back to all the cocaine-and-quaalude-fueled late nights we imagine they put off after Governor Rick Scott issued a March 2011 executive order requiring random drug tests for state workers. A federal judge has ruled that such tests violate folks' protections against unreasonable search and seizure. More »
The federal government has never exactly been known for its transparency, especially when it involves exactly where all our tax money goes every year. But things could get slightly clearer thanks to legislation passed yesterday by the House of Representatives. More »
Remember last year, when various media outlets reported that the mother of a four-year-old child was suing the makers of Nutella for advertising it as a health food? Everyone thought that this was hilarious, because hey, lady, fat-laden choco-paste ain't a health food. It's time for us all to stop laughing now, because the class-action lawsuit has been settled for about $3 million, $2.5 million of which is going to consumers willing to admit that they can't read a nutrition label. More »
One of the nation's largest medical debt collection companies — already the subject of a lawsuit over alleged privacy violations — finds itself in more hot water as newly released documents claim that agency employees are actually working in hospital emergency rooms and sometimes demanding that patients pay up before they receive any further medical attention. More »
More than two years after the Deepwater Horizon rig collapsed in the Gulf of Mexico — killing 11 people — a former engineer for BP has become the first person arrested in the investigation surrounding the disaster. More »
The Social Security Administration's "Death Master" File sounds like something that is guarded by a specter resembling the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, but it's really just a list of everyone who has recently moved on to another plane of existence. Regardless, the nation's largest life insurance company is now on the hook for $500 million after being accused of using the Death Master File for its own benefit while ignoring it when it could benefit others. More »
Here at The Consumerist, we have a long-standing anti-penny stance, but we're somewhat in favor of the gold-colored dollar coins. They're shiny! The Sacagawea ones have a woman on them! They save the government money! Except a new Government Accountability Office report mentions something interesting that we haven't discussed here before. Just replacing more fragile dollar bills with durable coins doesn't save any money at all. Minting and distributing all of those coins costs a lot. Instead, all of the cost savings would come from Americans throwing dollar coins in jars instead of circulating them. More »
In January 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee that it was unconstitutional to limit political campaign spending by corporations, thus helping to usher in the current era of the "super PAC." Today, Vermont's state legislature became the latest to call for an amendment to the Constitution that would overturn the controversial court ruling and declare that "money is not speech and corporations are not persons under the U.S. Constitution." More »
Among the intended goals of higher taxes on cigarettes is that some smokers will quit rather than deal with the increased cost. While this may happen, newly released numbers show that taxing cigarettes also drove up the sales of forms of tobacco that are taxed at lower rates. More »
The nation's 15 largest for-profit colleges get nearly 90% of their annual revenue from federal aid programs for students. New legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate today would prevent any of that money being used on advertising, marketing and recruitment. More »
Way back in 1984, the Federal Trade Commission established the Funeral Rule, which is actually a list of requirements for funeral homes to make sure that grieving consumers aren't hoodwinked into paying too much for services or paying for unnecessary items. Nearly 30 years on, an undercover investigation by the FTC found that a surprising number of funeral homes are not abiding by the Rule. More »
How come we all have to go through the terrible, awful, no good, very bad experience of mucking our way through filing personal income taxes every year, when the IRS already has all the numbers they need to calculate stuff for themselves? Well, because then tax preparation businesses would have nothing to do, and no money to make, of course. More »
It's been nearly two years since the Corn Refiners Association began running ads referring to High Fructose Corn Syrup as "corn sugar," in spite of the fact that the Food & Drug Administration hadn't yet approved this name change for food labels. The FDA still hasn't gotten around to making a decision on the matter, and a number of consumer groups are tired of waiting for a decision. More »
We certainly don't want to give comfort to tax cheats — and we're not trying to imply that any of our beloved readers are anything less than honest when filing their tax returns — but for those who dread a random audit, there's some good news: Budget and staff cuts at the IRS will likely mean fewer audits. More »
If there's one thing the last half-century has taught us about pot-smoking teens and 20-somethings, it's that the best way to reach them is by cracking down even harder. That's why the folks at the University of Colorado Boulder will be checking ID and spreading stinky fish fertilizer in an attempt to prevent pot-partakers from gathering on the school's quad this April 20. More »
The bad news is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has to reverse a rule that capped credit card fees associated with opening a new credit card, but the good news is they're asking for public comment while they revise it. More »
Just when you think the tricky tricksters are done trying to take away our online freedom, they pop back up. We might need to start playing whack-a-mole again like we did during the anti-SOPA/PIPA days way back when in January — there's a new law on the block aimed at restricting online rights. CISPA, everyone. Everyone, CISPA. More »
The Patriot Act of 2001 is just one example of how the U.S. government is trying to legally beef up its electronic surveillance power on the Internet Service and other digital communications networks. But for Nicholas Merrill, the increasing amount of such government powers has sparked the drive to build a communication service that puts its customers' privacy first and foremost. And he's seeking your dollars to help to do it. More »
Troubles keep piling up for the JetBlue pilot who melted down last month. Not only was he suspended, but now he's been indicted. In a federal court in Texas, he was charged with interfering with a flight crew. More »
Let's hope we don't see Mitt Romney or President Barack Obama angling for votes in between Sesame Street segments — but that could be the reality in the future. An appeals court in California ruled that banning political and public-issue ads from public TV and radio stations is unconstitutional. Oh, First Amendment! Look what you've done! More »
Johnson & Johnson and a subsidiary have to pay for the way it marketed antipsychotic drug Risperdal, neglecting to mention its side effects while claiming it was safer and worked better than the competition. In Arkansas, one of 11 states in which J&J has faced legal battles over the drug, a judge ordered the company to pay $1.2 billion to make up for its alleged sins. More »
While many states, including Washington, have laws that allow for breastfeeding moms to nurse in public without being hassled, some of those regulations are not clear on whether or not this protection extends to places like restaurant interiors or even offices. Thus, Seattle has made its stance clear: It is illegal for a business to ask a nursing mom to cover up or move elsewhere. More »
As you probably know, it's illegal for a debt collector to threaten arrest over a debt. It's also a big no-no to try collecting on a debt that doesn't exist. Unfortunately, that didn't stop a California man from operating a scheme where callers allegedly posed as law enforcement officers to collect on bogus debts. More »
Before you pull out your phone to take a video of law enforcement officers at work, you should brush up of the legal ramifications of what you're about to do and take care to protect yourself. A misstep could get you in trouble. More »
If the path to economic recovery will be led by small businesses believing in the future and growing, it may still be a while until we get there. Bullish sentiments among small business owners trended the way of Linsanity. More »
If you live in Richmond, VA, and have a habit of leaving your phone, GPS device or some other valuable item in your car, don't be surprised if you're woken up in the middle of the night by your local police officer. More »
A jury in Montana awarded a monster of a verdict to a 90-year-old woman with Alzheimer's Disease after her insurance company cancelled her long-term care policy because it decided she didn't actually need the level of medical care she was receiving. More »
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is sinking its teeth into its new watchdog role, as today they're expected to announce a few rules they're working on to try and clean up the mortgage-servicing industry. Here's where we imagine banks quaking in their big ol' boots. More »
According to researchers from an identity protection company, publicly available tax forms have potentially put hundreds of thousands of identities at risk, publishing 472,866 Social Security Numbers in a five-year span. Charities unnecessarily included the numbers in 990 forms, which are part of public record. More »
By most accounts, Internal Revenue Service auditors aren't much fun to meet with. Even if you've filed your taxes with impeccable precision, facing an audit can be nerve-wracking, so you're best off making sure you aren't tossing up any signs that draw attention to yourself. More »
Back in December, a U.S. Appeals court gave the thumbs-up to telecommunications companies working with the National Security Agency to monitor phones and email. Phone companies are also apparently totally cool with selling access to your phone activities to other law enforcement agencies willing to fork over pre-set prices. More »
While a majority of the American corporations that received "exceptional" bailout assistance form the Troubled Asset Relief Program, there are still three businesses — AIG, Ally Financial (you may know it by its pre-bust name of GMAC), and General Motors — remaining. Today, Treasury Dept. announced that the Acting Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation has determined that the top executives at this trio of companies will not get a pay raise in 2012. More »
Nothing says "I hate your proposal" better than packages full of knitted uteruses (uteri?) with googly eyes delivered to the offices of more than a dozen Arizona state lawmakers. That was the medium of choice used to send a message from opponents of a proposal to severely limit birth control coverage. More »
If it annoys you to no end that people write LOL when they are doing no such thing or still insist on overusing exclamation points in emails, you might want to move to Arizona. The state is considering a bill that would make it a criminal offense to be annoying on the Internet. More »
It's just like reality TV, but not at all — America, here are your top five big greedy banks, and here is the $25 billion mortgage settlement they're all going home with, now that a federal judge has approved it. That's their load to carry, after allegations of foreclosure abuses and misconduct in servicing home loans. More »
Health insurer Aetna has raised its rates for California small business clients considerably, making for an average increase of 8 percent, with some businesses seeing increases of as much as 21 percent. The California State Insurance Commissioner called the hikes "excessive." More »
Federal food safety inspectors already have so much to do, why not just hand over the job of watching birds go down an assembly line to factory employees? What could possibly go wrong? A whole lot, say opponents of a current proposal by the Agriculture Department to allow private companies take over inspections at poultry plants. More »
Sophisticated new ID-authentication systems mean that determined teens need sophisticated new fake IDs in order to get into clubs and buy booze. Enter ID Chief, a now-defunct site based in China. Provided with your photo, name, and Social Security number, ID Chief could provide you with a license from any state you choose, good enough to fool the scanners at even the finest liquor stores. The price? A money order for $75. Oh, and they sell your personal information to the highest bidder. More »
It took pressure from the Illinois Attorney General, but AMC Theatres agreed to make adjustments that allow blind and deaf people to enjoy movies in more of the chain's theaters in the state. The chain agreed to add captioning and audio-description features to 460 screens. Before the deal, only a couple dozen AMC theaters in Illinois offered the technology. More »
With only a few days to go before we're all supposed to have filed out tax returns, the White House has launched an updated version of its interactive Tax Receipt to show people where their tax dollars are going. More »
Earlier this week, the Governor of Ohio signed into law new legislation that gives businesses accused of cheating customers a new option for resolving lawsuits while taking away rights from consumers who sue. More »
According to an internal memo that was sent around the Food and Drug Administration offices, a salmonella outbreak that's spread throughout sushi restaurants in 19 states and the District of Columbia could be responsible for making at least 90 people sick. The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating the outbreak, which has sent seven people to the hospital. More »
A Colorado payday loan operation that allegedly piled on undisclosed and inflated fees — and which attempted to avoid prosecution by claiming affiliation with Native American tribes — has been sued by the Federal Trade Commission, which says the sovereign immunity laws don't prevent investigations by the feds. More »
It's not just students that are getting in trouble for having Facebook accounts — one teacher's aide says she was fired from her elementary school for refusing to hand over the password to her social networking account. The teacher is now embroiled in a legal battle with her former employers. More »
Less than a week after shutting down a robocalling nuisance responsible for billions of auto-dialed scam calls, the Federal Trade Commission has taken down another prerecorded perp. These deceptive dialers have been hit with $30 million in penalties, the largest amount ever imposed for violating the guidelines of the Do Not Call Registry. More »
Pay TV companies make bundles by bundling channels together in subscription packages, forcing customers to pay inflated fees for packages that are stuffed with channels they don't care about. The U.S. Court of Appeals could have done subscribers a solid by forcing cable and satellite companies to change their modus operandi, but it ruled that there's nothing illegal about the exploitative practice, upholding a judgment in a lower court. More »
Having a car that looks hot is one thing, but one that feels hot because its engine is on fire is another. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration is looking into reports that the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze and 2010 Jeep Wrangler are suffering engine fires. The investigations could possibly lead to recalls, but there's no action on that front as of yet. Both Chevy and Jeep say there have been no reports of injuries or deaths due to possible defects. More »
The Food & Drug Administration says there are more than 7,000 chemicals in tobacco and tobacco smoke. And now the FDA says consumers have a right to know about the levels of 93 harmful or potentially harmful chemicals that are in the products they smoke and/or chew. More »
The Canadian "give a penny, take a penny" tray industry has just been hit with some sad news. The new federal budget for our neighbors to the north has done away with the coin that costs more to make than it's actually worth. More »
When Kat and her husband traded in their old Ford Focus, the dealership told them that they would be able to pay off the loan faster than the couple could. This was true, if by "faster" they meant "not at all." See, Kat's husband was wounded while serving in Afghanistan, and is due a $19,000 grant from the Veterans Administration to buy a vehicle. This grant is a check cut directly to the dealership. Two months later, the VA, acting with all of the swiftness and efficiency that government agencies are known for, hasn't sent the check yet. Naturally, instead of actually contacting the couple about the issue, the dealership just went ahead and didn't pay off the loan as promised. They won't until the check from the VA shows up. This is affecting Kat's husband's credit, and is just generally rude. More »
Filing a federal tax return is an ingrained habit now, but most middle-class Americans didn't have to before World War II. The Revenue Act of 1942 made 15 million more people eligible to pay taxes. How could the government explain this to the masses? Cartoons! The U.S. Treasury department commissioned Disney to make a short animated film that explained how to fill out a simple tax return, and why paying income taxes was so important. (Spoiler alert: Defeating the Axis powers.) More »
If you look out financially for an older loved one, the government gives you a reward for your kindness come tax time. Those looking to claim people who aren't their children as dependents when they file their taxes should go over the rules to make sure they qualify. More »
We've heard of people blaming McDonald's for getting them fat or burning their grandchildren with hot liquid, but rare is the occasion that the fast food giant is accused of leading one into a life of prostitution. But if you live long enough, you see everything, hence a federal court case in which a woman accuses McDonald's and her franchisee ex-husband of pushing her into the world's oldest profession in the 1980s. More »
To the cable, phone, wireless and broadcasting companies in the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission can sometimes seem to be a big wet blanket on all their merger-happy fun. Thus, Congress is now considering legislation that would revise the way the FCC does everything from introducing regulations to reviewing mergers. More »
More than two years after a breach at RockYou — the folks behind a number of popular Facebook apps and other online games like Zoo World — exposed the personal information of 32 million users to hackers, the company has finally reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. More »
More people are living in clusters rather than open spaces, with city life expanding in popularity in that hard-to-name decade that ended in 2010. U.S. Census data says 80.7 percent of Americans lived in urban zones in 2010, up nearly two percentage points from 2000. The rural population declined from 21 percent to 19.3 percent in the same span. More »
Back in the days of yore, say, a few hundred years ago, when you needed to mark a state line, well you could just hack a mark in a tree with a hatchet. But in the case of North and South Carolina property owners, when those trees eventually cease to exist, residents have to deal with the repercussions, as many are finding out they actually own property in the other state. More »
When the president signed the Affordable Care Act into law, it was pretty clear that the legislation would ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. And now, two years later, the Supremes will be hearing its first arguments on the matter. More »
You probably haven't heard that there's a small independent movie — apparently based on a little-known series of books — called The Hunger Games that's getting a limited release this weekend. Well, the studio behind that film is trying to stop an anti-hunger group from cashing in on the Hunger Games name. More »
It's been a few months since we last heard much about the STOCK Act, the legislation intended to close the loophole that has allowed lawmakers (and their aides) to profit from insider trading. Well, it's finally worked its way through the Senate, but not without losing a few teeth. More »
While the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments next week over the constitutionality of the nearly two-year-old health-care reform package, members of Congress have been busy trying to chip away at the legislation. More »
Earlier today, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in a case that has been a hot-button topic for both environmentalists and advocates for the rights of land owners. In the end, the Supremes came down on the side of landowners, allowing them to take legal steps to void Environmental Protection Agency compliance orders. More »
The latest battle over those graphic anti-smoking labels on cigarette packaging has been won by the FDA, after a federal appeals court ruled yesterday that requiring the warnings does not violate tobacco companies' First Amendment right to free speech. More »
UPDATE: FAFSA has sent out an email correcting their earlier assertion that the deadline to file federal income taxes has already passed. They've admitted they were wrong and apologized for any confusion. More »
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a few tricks up its sleeve when it comes to figuring out crime stuff. But in one case, either the FBI is unwilling or unable to unlock an Android phone belonging to an alleged pimp they're investigating, prompting them to ask Google for help. More »
Lest they turn around act like the jerky big banks that they are, federal officials say they're going to keep a watchful eye on five major banks as the final terms of a mortgage settlement were filed today in federal court. The $25 billion deal was announced in February and the government wants to make sure banks will offer wide housing relief to Americans like they promised. More »
Like the nation as a whole, Arizona's state government is sending Amazon mixed messages on sales tax. Just weeks after news broke that Arizona had sent Amazon a $53 million bill for sales tax it failed to collect between 2006 and 2010, the state senate has killed a bill that would have required the company to start adding sales tax to orders. More »
Everyone is all abuzz this morning with the latest numbers from the U.S. Labor Department, which show we've boosted the job count by more than what was forecast in February. While the unemployment rate stayed the same at 8.3%, we added 227,000 jobs, up from the predicted 210,000. More »
A California wine collector allegedly played off his respected reputation to pawn off cheap imitations of expensive products on unsuspecting customers. Feds arrested the collector, accusing him of selling fake vintages at high-profile auction houses. More »
It seems the TSA isn't so happy about the dissemination of a blogger's contention that you can sneak dangerous stuff through security by placing it along the side of your body. The blogger says reporters complained that the TSA tried to get them not to write about the story. More »
Section 953(b) of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires publicly traded companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay as a proportion of the median-paid employee at the firm. And yet, the Securities & Exchange Commission has yet to even propose a regulation for public comment, which would get the ball rolling on enforcing the act. So more than two dozen members of the Congress and Senate have written the SEC asking the agency to act immediately. More »
A bureaucratic mixup led to a very confusing Super Tuesday for one Boston-area woman. The 84-year-old showed up to vote in Tuesday's primary election, only to be told that she couldn't vote: she was dead. More »
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has opened up its latest portal for American consumers to register their complaints with various types of lenders. Now people with issues regarding their federal or private student loans have a place to connect — and hopefully reach some sort of resolution. More »
Students seeking financial aid from the government to go to college can apply for free online — that is, if they make sure they're actually on the federal site, and not one that's really close and charges a fee. More »
The Los Angeles District Attorney revealed that a California doctor faces murder charges for allegedly pushing unneeded prescription drugs to patients, three of whom died of overdoses in 2009. She also faces 21 felony counts of writing fraudulent, purposeless prescriptions. Authorities says she prescribed tens of thousands of unneeded prescriptions to various patients, including methadone, Xanax, oxycodone to patients. More »
If money is your motivation in reporting insider trading, some experts are saying don't go right to the FBI, even if Michael Douglas urges you to. The actor appears in a recent FBI public service announcement referencing his character from Wall Street, Gordon Gekko, targeting financial fraud. More »
It's one thing to sneak a few hundred — or even a few thousand — dollars under the federal government's radar. But how in the world did a Texas doctor allegedly manage to bilk the feds out of almost $375 million in bogus Medicare claims in only five years? More »
The Securities and Exchange Commission isn't done sorting through the mortgage mess, and has launched inquiries with Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs over mortgage-backed securities they peddled to investors. More »
Seed industry titan Monsanto is infamous for its patent infringement lawsuits against farmers for allegedly using its proprietary seeds without paying. Defendants often claim that Monsanto seeds are so prevalent that crops can't help but become contaminated. And some farmers say they have stopped growing certain crops out of fear that they may someday be sued. More »
It can be annoying to get mail for your home's previous tenant, or phone calls intended for a person who had your phone number years earlier. But when you get a new license plate from your state's DMV, you don't expect that you'll have to answer for someone else's unpaid parking tickets. More »
If you're a Consumerist reader, you're probably the type of online shopper that would be wary of a website promising a "free trial" period. But every year, millions of Americans think they're getting something for nothing — only to end up much poorer because they didn't read the fine print. More »
Emily is a law student, and she spent last summer doing lawyer-type work and earning lawyer-type money. She mistakenly set up her withholding as if she were earning that much money year-round, though, so the government owes her a pretty sweet refund now that she's returned to the poor, ascetic life of a student. She even filed her taxes super early so she can get that money back. Only the IRS has flagged her for extra-special review, delaying her refund, and no one she can get in touch with seems to care. "You should just get another job," one helpful representative told her. More »
The Obama administration is laying out a voluntary list of guidelines for Internet companies in an attempt to protect consumers' privacy while they're cruising around the Web. But before you get too excited, this online privacy bill of rights is just a polite suggestion, and not an actual piece of legislation. More »
Expensive and complicated overdraft fees are pretty high on, if not at the top of, many bank customers' complaint lists. So it only makes sense that the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has decided to look into whether or not these fees are a fair way to keep people from overdrafting, or just a profit center for banks. More »
Of all the agonies that confront cancer patients, an unnecessary shortage of drugs they need must be among the more frustrating. The Food and Drug Administration is showing some compassion for the sick by easing import rules for two crucial cancer drugs in order to bulk up supply. More »
The Federal Trade Commission announced today that a U.S. district court has stopped an operation that allegedly collected millions of dollars in payday loan debts that consumers did not actually owe. More »
Qnexa, a diet pill that some researchers say increases risks of birth defects and heart problems, is getting a second shot at making its way to the market. After rejecting the drug in 2010, the Food and Drug Administration will review Qnexa again Wednesday. More »
Now that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finally has a director, Richard Cordray, it's making some big moves to bring in debt collectors and credit bureaus under the umbrella of industries they want to supervise. More »
The U.S. Department of Justice nailed Citigroup on mortgage fraud charges, getting the bank to agree to pay out a $158 million settlement while admitting it tricked a federal insurance program into backing bad loans. When borrowers defaulted, taxpayers ended up footing the bill. More »
Sorry, but there was just no way we'd be able to refrain from referencing Beastie Boys songs/lyrics in this one: Michael Diamond, aka Mike D, has teamed up with two other investors, including his wife, to sabotage AT&T's attempt to not allow shareholders to vote on resolutions supporting wireless net-neutrality in yearly shareholder votes. More »
A California man sued a restaurant in federal court, accusing it of discrimination for leaving racial epithets on his receipts. Weeks before the case was set to be heard by a jury, the restaurant and the customer reached a settlement with undisclosed terms. More »
Back in 2007, the Food & Drug Administration did a small sample test on 33 lipsticks and found varying levels of lead in two-thirds of them. As a follow-up, the FDA requested testing of a significantly larger sampling and has now announced that it found at least trace amounts of lead in 400 varieties. More »
Silly judge, the law is for everyone, not just the plebeians you rule over on a daily basis. A Pennslyvania Magisterial District judge was totally busted for dismissing her own parking violations, which she racked up with her BMW. More »
For fans of football teams with poor stadium attendance, Sunday afternoons can be a dreary experience of having to watch Cheers re-runs while occasionally checking the score of the game you'd be watching if it weren't blacked out. But if a quintet of senators get their way, these black outs would come to an end. More »
A 1988 law continues to be the "buffering" in Netflix's success stream. The Video Privacy Protection Act, which forbids movie rental companies from sharing customers' rental history, is not only stopping Netflix from integrating movie-streaming with Facebook in the U.S., but has cost the company $9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit. More »
Late last month, the Obama administration angered some people when it announced that all employers — regardless of their stance on birth control — would need to provide insurance that covers female preventative care. Today, the President said his people had come up with a compromise that he believes will provide birth control while allowing businesses to not be directly responsible for providing it. More »
There are a lot of good things about today's $25 billion settlement between the five largest mortgage servicers, the Dept. of Justice and the attorneys general of 49 states. But in spite of the huge price tag on the deal — which could grow even larger if other lenders sign on — it's only the beginning of cleaning up the aftermath of housing market collapse. More »
Back in August, we told you about how the Dept. of Health & Human Services was finalizing a template for new health insurance labels that would attempt to make it clear what a potential customer was buying and what sort of coverage they would receive. More »
More than a year after several of the nation's largest mortgage lenders temporarily suspended foreclosures after it was revealed that they had been using untrained, unqualified "robosigners" to process foreclosure documents, the U.S. Justice Dept. and the attorneys general of 49 states have announced a $25 billion settlement that will result in mortgage reductions to some homeowners. More »
In the wake of a recent Consumer Reports investigation that found high levels of arsenic and lead in a number of fruit juices, Congressman Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro today announced the "Arsenic Prevention and Protection from Lead Exposure in Juice (APPLE Juice) Act of 2012," which would require the Food and Drug Administration to set standards for arsenic and lead in fruit juices. More »
Last night was the deadline for the attorneys general of each state to sign onto a massive settlement with the nation's five largest mortgage lenders, and more than 40 of the states opted to join in the pot-sharing. More »
UPDATE 4:40 p.m.: Kenneth says he's going to leave his $16 house without a fight, telling the Dallas Observer's "Unfair Park" blog: "If they are the true owners, then you're supposed to give it up anyway." More »
The burden of state sales tax continues to plague Amazon. Groups of states hold Amazon to different standards when it comes to collecting the tax. While some disagreements end amicably — such as the company's January deal with Indiana that it will have to start collecting state sales tax in 2014 — other states are a bit more confrontational. More »
For the first several years of the entertainment industry's crackdown on online piracy, American pornographers did very little to go after the people who filled up gigabyte after gigabyte of hard drive space with bittorrented x-rated material. But in recent years, realizing there is money to be made by merely threatening "John Doe" defendants with making their names and downloading habits public, that has begun to change. But one California woman is fighting back, claiming that the porn she didn't violate copyright laws because the porn she's accused of downloading isn't copyrightable. More »
As part of the Affordable Care Act, health insurers must spend at least 80% of the money they earn from premiums on actually providing health care, with the remaining cash used to cover all administrative, advertising and payroll costs. Those insurers with plans that don't follow this ratio are soon supposed to start giving the extra money back in refunds and discounts. But new legislation introduced in the Senate this week could jeopardize this, while giving insurance companies even more money to stick in their dog pillows. More »
When you've got inmates of a correctional facility manufacturing decals for state police cruisers, hilarity is practically guaranteed to ensue. Vermont prisoners got away with quite a prank, sneaking a pig into the state police crest decals that adorned two doors of 30 cruisers for the last year. More »
Although students gain work experience and connections from internships, the professional world tends to get the better end of the deal, exploiting talented interns for free or low-pay labor. Federal law bars companies from treating interns as they would employees, but overworked students don't often feel as though they're in much of a position to blow the whistle if their mentors cross the line. More »
Sex sells, which is why models in skimpy outfits sell consumers on the merits of everything from cars to web domain companies. But a Massachusetts settlement says skin gimmicks and free gifts shouldn't be used to recruit potential bone marrow donors. More »
Last fall, the Philadelphia City Council passed a bill that would remove unused satellite dishes and pretty up any new ones that were bolted to the sides and roofs of city buildings. But that law is having some trouble becoming a reality after a group representing satellite TV providers filed a petition with the FCC. More »
Cigarette makers appear to be winning the legal battle against the federal government's requirement that large graphic images of the consequences of smoking be displayed on all packages of cigarettes. The rule was supposed to take effect next year, but a U.S. District judge has put that plan on hold until the issue is resolved. More »
The woman who took Honda to small claims court because her Civic didn't live up to its advertised gas mileage is now almost $10,000 richer thanks to a Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner ruling. More »
It's generally seen as bad form for a bankrupt company like Kodak to have its name plastered on a theater as a title sponsor. Kodak, which filed for Chapter 11 protection last month, has realized it would have a lot more cash to burn if it could wriggle out of a $75 million, 20-year commitment to slap its name on the Kodak Theatre, which hosts the Academy awards. More »
Fresh off fighting laws that require truth in advertising, Spirit Airlines, which hilariously dubbed itself the "most consumer-friendly airline," is now taking a stand against another government regulation — one that requires airlines to allow passengers to change flights within 24 hours of booking without paying a penalty — by adding two dollars to everyone's ticket. More »
While lawmakers and Hollywood execs try to come up with ways to combat piracy in ham-fisted, knee-jerk ways that punish everyone, the CEO of Rovio Mobile — better known as the company that makes Angry Birds — has joined his voice to more sensible suits who see online piracy as an opportunity to learn and grow. More »
In an effort to put living, paying bodies into homes left vacant following foreclosure, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced the beginnings of a program to sell off pools of foreclosed properties to investors who would then rent them out. More »
The fight over whether or not the dollar should be printed or minted continues. The latest volley of cannon fire in favor of the dollar coin came from Senators Tom Harkin of Iowa and Arizona's John McCain, who earlier today introduced the Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings (Hey — that spells COINS!) Act to promote the use of coins in an effort to curb waste and spending. More »
Republican senators have a buzzy little bee in their collective bonnets over the appointment of Richard Cordray as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. See, they're mad that President Obama took it upon himself to finalize the deed while the Senate was in recess, and say his "invalid" appointment will hurt business. More »
Things were looking grim for the millions of users who had made mega uploads to Megaupload, as authorities stated that data could begin being deleted off the site's servers as early as this Thursday. But the two hosting companies that currently house all those files aren't ready to bring down the virtual axe just yet. More »
It's pretty cut and dry when a kid beats up another kid and takes his sneakers, but what if the fighting results in one party having to give up his virtual possessions in an online game? The Dutch Supreme Court says it's theft no matter what items were stolen, after a youth was beaten and threatened into surrendering his virtual property. More »
Usually when you see reports about a flashy new charter school going into a neighborhood of bars and nightclubs, it's about how local families are thrilled about the area taking a turn for the better. But bar-owners in Dallas' Deep Ellum area are hoping to 86 the school's plans of bringing education to the block. More »
Print something on a package and you better believe consumers are going to take it seriously, hence why a New York man is adding another lawsuit to Frito-Lay's docket, claiming their line of chips aren't made with "all-natural ingredients" as advertised. More »
One way to get a politician to withdraw a bill requiring drug-testing for welfare applicants? Just tell him lawmakers also have to get tested, and see how fast he boomerangs. Rep. Jud McMillin, a Republican member of the Indiana General Assembly, took back his drug-testing bill after one of his helpful Democratic colleagues amended it ever so slightly. More »
After years of writing about shady practices by debt collectors, it's nice to finally write that there's a small bit of justice in this world. Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced a $2.5 million civil penalty against Asset Acceptance, one of the country's largest debt collectors, for making misrepresentations and deceiving consumers in the name of collecting debts. More »
Less than two weeks after authorities shut down file-sharing site Megaupload, it looks like everything stored by users on that site's servers could soon be erased, even the stuff that wasn't pirated. More »
The ability to play employers off bids from other companies seeking to snag the best in their fields is an important one. So much so, in fact, that workers in Silicon Valley have filed a lawsuit alleging that some of the industry's biggest players were involved in a secret anti-poaching pact that kept salaries down and workers stuck where they were. More »
Although there are signs of hope for the economy as American incomes were up by the most they have been in nine months, the fact that we're also keeping our spending exactly the same isn't so great. More »
Aww, snap! Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill doesn't care that her speech opening a forum on Data Privacy Day was being streamed on Facebook and likely Googled by many — she still put the verbal smackdown on those two companies for their problems protecting user privacy. More »
Tossing that box of Lucky Charms back on the shelf at the grocery store after your kid tried to sneak it into the cart is going to be a lot harder, if House Republicans have their way. They're on the side of food companies that don't want the White House telling them to stop marketing sugary cereal and junk foods to kids. More »
Same-sex marriage has been legalized in the state of New Hampshire for two years, but a bill before the state legislature could allow businesses, like caterers, florists, and dress shops, to refuse their services to these couples. More »
Because the lawmakers of this nation don't have real-world issues that need to be resolved, a state senator in Oklahoma has introduced legislation that would finally put a stop to the abominable, completely nonexistent practice of using tissue from aborted fetuses in food. More »
Bank of America poses "a grave threat to U.S. financial stability," according to watchdog group Public Citizen, which has called for the bank to be broken up. More »
Barking dogs can be an annoyance. Ask anyone who has ever lived next to a chatty canine. But at what point does that annoyance cross the line and become a nuisance worthy of being issued a fine. For the folks in Fort Worth, TX, that threshold is ten minutes. More »
Online sellers, we warned you about this in 2010. The Internal Revenue Service created the new 1099-K form as a way to keep closer tabs on those who sell items online, and the 2011 tax year is the first in which the form will apply. More »
Nearly a half-decade after the U.S. housing market collapsed like something that collapses really badly, the country's five biggest mortgage providers — Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi and Ally — are oh-so-close to reaching a settlement with the states that could include overhauls to how they operate when it comes to the whole lending/servicing/foreclosing process. More »
If your car manufacturer thinks your engine might catch on fire, it's better to know sooner rather than later. You can streamline the process for discovering any car recalls by signing up with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Recall Notification by Email program. More »
Religious opposition to birth control won't be a good enough reason for church-affiliated employers to get out of having to cover birth control for employees, according to an announcement from the Department of Secretary of Health and Human Services. Several types of companies will have an extra year to come into compliance with the edict, ushered in by the Obama administration's health care reforms. More »
Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of our benevolent benefactors at Consumer Reports, is urging the Department of Health and Human Services not to delay a consumer-friendly health insurance provision in Wisconsin. The delay could result in a loss of over $13 million rebates or lower insurance premiums to residents. More »
The same day that the Senate decided to postpone its voting on the Protect IP Act, the House Judiciary Committee has decided it's probably time to give more than cursory thought to the Stop Online Piracy Act and has postponed the piece of legislation for the time being. More »
When living in a home that doesn't happen to be yours, you should have an excuse. And one man in Niceville, Fla. (how nice!) says he was just squatting there by way of the a law that makes it okay for what the pioneers used to call "claim jumpers" to hang on to property they don't own. More »
UPDATE 1:51 p.m. Due to concerns that the reappearance of Megaupload.com with an IP address might not actually be that company, we have taken out any links directed there in the earlier version of this story. More »
As you may have heard the other day, the Senate was set to vote next Tuesday on the controversial anti-online-piracy Protect IP Act, but after the entire Internet seemed to raise its voice in opposition to the bill — and a number of Senators quickly changed their opinions — that vote has been put aside for the time being. More »
The U.S. government didn't even need SOPA or PIPA on Thursday, as it shut down Megaupload.com, a file-sharing site wiith 150 million registered users and about 50 million hits daily. So now where will celebrities go to download their own movies, music and TV shows? More »
If you're organized enough to have all your tax documents in order, you can go ahead and get a jump on the tax season by e-filing. The Internal Revenue Service says it's ready to process tax returns filed online. More »
Yesterday's mass protests about the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills have yielded some positive results: At least 18 members of Congress — including several PIPA co-sponsors — have withdrawn their support for the legislation. And Wikipedia, which went dark for the day, saw its traffic go up, as visitors used the site's SOPA page as a resource for information about the issue. More »
While Consumerist was outside in the chilly, sunshiney streets of NYC with anti-SOPA/PIPA protestors gathered outside the offices of Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, we made some friends! David Moore had one of our favorite signs, and a lot to say, while Emily is an English teacher who wants kids to be able to use the Internet. Then there was a guy with a beard hat. Let's meet them! More »
While SOPA and PIPA have the support of every major record label, the unions representing performing artists, and the organizations that manage licensing for musicians, some performers, writers and artists have stood up against the bills, including MGMT, OK Go, Trent Reznor and the members of OPERA America. (And Neil Gaiman, too!) More »
This afternoon, Consumerist headed over to check out an emergency NYC Tech Meetup protest outside the offices of Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both co-sponsors of anti-piracy legislation. Crowds gathered to hear speakers from the tech industry raise the cry against SOPA and PIPA. More »
The folks at Facebook have made no secret of their objection to the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. And while it would have been a huge statement for Facebook to shut down, even for a few hours, you can't fault the company for not wanting to turn off the money machine. Regardless, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg just took to his personal page to quickly voice his opinion on these pieces of legislation. More »
Like a number of people we've spoken to today about the impact of the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, Regretsy.com's Helen Killer (not her real name, in case you hadn't guessed) tells Consumerist that she doesn't oppose the idea of fighting online piracy. It's just that SOPA goes too far and focuses on things it shouldn't. More »
As you may have noticed, the Internet isn't happy with proposed anti-piracy legislation before Congress and the Senate that could have a huge impact on everything from e-commerce to your 13-year-old niece's Glee fan blog. And as the voices continue to grow louder in opposition to the SOPA and PIPA bills, some law makers are already switching sides. More »
Micah Sifry, head of Personal Democracy Media and an expert on the intersection of technology and politics, sees the battle over SOPA and PIPA as part of the ongoing changes affecting the content and entertainment industries in the Internet era: "They're trying to use the law to artificially protect business models and slow down new ways of doing things that are disrupting that business model," he told The Consumerist. More »
Mozilla is making its stance against SOPA and PIPA clear today, by joining the list of sites featuring a blackout page and a call to action to protest the anti-piracy acts. But while they take a stand, users seeking technical support for Mozilla products like Firefox will still be able to access that site and get security updates. More »
Texas Congressman Lamar Smith, sponsor of the Stop Online Piracy Act that has moved a number of sites, including Craigslist and Reddit to shut down for the day, accuses the biggest name involved in the blackouts, Wikipedia, of doing a disservice to its users by inciting outrage over the piece of legislation. More »
While all the other sites on the Internet are dimming the lights in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, the link lovers at Fark.com have gone bright white to show their support of the controversial bills — because they are just sick and tired of having to do their jobs every day. More »
We here at Consumerist have been posting links to Randall Munroe's online comic xkcd for more than five years. So we weren't shocked to see that today's xkcd dealt directly with the topic of the day — the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. More »
We've already heard the rallying cry against SOPA/PIPA, urging us not to let the LOLcats die, so we thought we'd ask the king of the LOLcats himself, Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh, to weigh in on SOPA. He explains why his sites are standing against SOPA today and how these potential laws would threaten the Internet as we know it. More »
Reddit is set to black out for 12 hours starting at 8 a.m. ET this morning. But in advance of that temporary shutdown, the site's co-founder Alexis Ohanion has been making the media rounds to speak out against the Stop Online Piracy Act. More »
The Motion Picture Association of America cares about you. It doesn't want children to see boobs or hear curse words (though rampant bloodshed is cool) and it doesn't want you to turn into a pawn of the big corporations that it says are really behind today's blackouts at sites like Craiglist and Wikipedia, which everyone knows are both monstrous examples of corporate greed. More »
For years, BitTorrent tracker site thePirateBay.org has been one of, if not the biggest target in the music, movie, software and video game industries' anti-piracy efforts. So it might come as no surprise that, along with many, many other sites, the folks at Pirate Bay decided to shutter for the day today... well, sort of. More »
Even though the House Judiciary Committee has moved its planned hearing on the Stop Internet Piracy Act from today until February — perhaps hoping that we'll all be too hungover from Super Bowl beer and wings to care — that's not going to stop people who are peeved about SOPA and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act, from taking to the streets to have their say. More »
To say that Jeff Jarvis, the media blogger, journalist and author behind BuzzMachine.com, is against SOPA/PIPA, would be more than an understatement. When we connected with him to prepare for our "SOPA/PIPA Only" content for today, Jarvis made it clear that he's as anti-SOPA as anyone could be. More »
If only every political issue or very important cause could be explained with a song about LOLcats, maybe everyone would enjoy a higher level of understanding. Case in point: SOPA/PIPA is a big deal to those of us who enjoy the current form of the Internetz. No one wants those adorable cats to go anywhere, right? More »
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark has been a vocal opponent of SOPA and PIPA with good reason: According to Newmark, if the bills as currently written were passed into law, "any site with any kind of user provided content could be shut down easily. For example, Wikipedia, Amazon, craigslist. Any media site with commenting." In an email interview with Consumerist, Newmark (who is also a member of the Board of Directors of our parent company) warned that, despite White House opposition, and recent changes to the bills to limit DNS filtering, consumers should still be concerned. More »
Sorting through all the SOPA/PIPA related news today is bound to get overwhelming. Sites like Wikipedia, Reddit, those in the Cheezburger network, Boing Boing, Mozilla and more are dark to protest the proposed anti-piracy laws. We've roped in a few industry experts and veterans to help sort out what exactly is going on here, and were lucky enough to get Mashable's former and formidable editor-at-large Ben Parr to weigh in. More »
The editorial staff of Consumerist would like to let you know that we have chosen to suspend our normal coverage so that we can bring you news, information, and opinion concerning the proposed SOPA/PIPA legislation and why Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports and Consumerist, is against it. Inside is the letter we at Consumers Union, along with U.S. PIRG and the Consumer Federation of America, sent to several members of Congress on November 15th. More »
Although the White House this weekend expressed "serious reservations" about elements of the pending anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA, and House leaders have said they will not conduct hearings on their bill any time soon, the legislation is far from dead. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said this weekend that he hopes to open debate on the Senate's version later this month. And House sponsor Lamar Smith said he will continue work on that chamber's version. Internet protests planned for tomorrow, in which some of the web's largest sites will go offline for 24 hours, are expected to go ahead as scheduled. More »
For your Friday afternoon viewing pleasure, we thought we'd share a YouTube video featuring a case against pennies our reader Lisa sent our way. Sure, you may have seen it, as it's a few months old, but since we're sure each and every one of you hasn't seen every single thing ever on the Internet, this one's worth a post. More »
We're all a bunch of optimistic Spendy McSpendersons lately, according to a new survey that says consumer sentiment is remaining high in the new year. As more jobs are being created, consumers have lifted their collective spirits for the fifth consecutive month. More »
When word broke that the Food and Drug Administration had halted orange juice shipments to check for a potentially harmful fungicide, the government was mum on which company found evidence that triggered the reaction. Now Coca-Cola solved the mystery by confirming it was responsible for spotting carbendazim — an illegal fungicide believed to cause infertility — in a shipment from Brazil. More »
In a move that will likely have a huge ripple effect in the mobile device accessory market nationwide, the California Energy Commission approved the nation's first ever energy standards for the chargers you use to power up everything from your phone and tablet to your power drill. More »
Determined not to let orange juice double as unintentional contraception, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has frozen shipments to check for carbendazim, a fungicide banned in much of the world that is believed to cause infertility. As much as 25 percent of the American juice supply comes from abroad, and the FDA acted on a report that a juice company detected the fungicide in imports from Brazil, which provides 11 percent of America's OJ. More »
In less than a year, AT&T went from swallowing up T-Mobile USA for for $39 billion to owing T-Mobile's German parent company $3 billion in cash and another billion in spectrum because that deal slammed into the regulatory roadblock at the FCC and the Justice Dept. Speaking for the third year in a row at the Consumer Electronics Show, FCC chair Julius Genachowski defended his agency's actions against the deal. More »
Credit card companies scored a win yesterday, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that credit card claims by consumers must go to arbitration, instead of being tried in a court room. The ruling overturned one made by a U.S. appeals court in San Francisco that had said the Credit Card Repair Organizations Act was meant to bar arbitration. More »
As we mentioned a couple months ago, Congressmen aren't subject to the same insider trading regulations as the rest of us. Some elected officials have reportedly crossed the ethical line to inflate their personal wealth, using secret knowledge to make timely stock trades. More »
Consumers don't like juiced up claims of natural ingredients, which is why one California woman is suing Tropicana's parent company over its claims that their orange juice is "100% pure and natural." More »
For camera companies, 2011 is a year they'd like to forget — natural disasters have wreaked havoc on Japanese manufacturers and delayed many a product launch. But last summer, Olympus suffered a different kind of catastrophe, one that was man-made, but perhaps much more damaging, and which, if the company goes under, could affect consumers who own Olympus devices, such as cameras, audio recorders, or other products. For instance, it may be difficult to send a device back for repairs or replacement if there's no company to send it to. More »
Gird your Twinkies, Hostess lovers: The maker of those frosting-filled yellow logs is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week, says a new report. It's the second time in recent years that it's attempted to restructure in court. More »
In order for a hospital to participate in the Medicare program, it must develop and maintain a Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) program to "track medical errors and adverse patient events, analyze their causes, and implement preventive actions and mechanisms that include feedback and learning throughout the hospital." However, a new study by the Dept. of Health & Human Services found that only a small portion of patient errors are being reported — and that hospitals don't seem to give a damn about fixing things. More »
The Internal Revenue Sercice is onto you, millionaires, so you best be careful as to how you spend all that money and file your taxes right. The IRS revealed in an enforcement report this week that they're auditing more wealthy taxpayers for 2011 than 2010. More »
The Securities and Exchange Commission has been taking a lot of heat recently after a federal judge refused to sign off on its $285 million settlement with Citigroup because, as is usual in these types of deals, the bank would neither admit its guilt nor profess innocence, and no evidence was ever entered into the record. But now the SEC says it won't be letting rulebreakers get off so easily — well, at least not all the time. More »
With every new year comes a new set of laws, some of which are destined to, in the words of the great Arsenio Hall, make you go "hmmm..." One of the latest is a new regulation in Illinois that requires you to show your ID and sign a log if you purchase drain cleaner or other similarly caustic substances. More »
One woman in California isn't about to let a big food company get away with what she says is fraudulent advertising. Frito-Lay is the subject of a new class action suit, which alleges that though they tout certain products as "all natural," they actually contain genetically modified ingredients, or GMs. More »
In a sign that perhaps the U.S. economy is finally chugging forward like the little engine that could, the Labor Department announced today that 200,000 new jobs were added last month. More »
Only a day after being appointed — in the face of stalwart Senate Republicans — as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray took to YouTube to share his vision of the CFPB's mission. More »
As much as you might be yearning to snuggle up at night with an action figure version of Steve Jobs that is creepily akin to the real person, Apple doesn't want Jobs fans to get their hands on any such dolls. They're reportedly planning to sue the makers of a new extremely lifelike figure of the late CEO. More »
When April 15 falls on a weekend or holiday, as it does this year and did last year, the IRS cuts you a break and gives you until the next business day to file your taxes. That means tax procrastinators won't have to file until April 17, giving them two extra, frantic days to delay the inevitable. More »
Last January, a woman in California says she was billed by a hospital for a treatment she never received. She took her complaint to the folks at California Watch, who published a story about her predicament. But when a local newspaper went to verify the information, the hospital's CEO had absolutely no problem showing up at the reporter's door to rifle through that patient's file without her permission. More »
The government is sick of ultra-rich people hiding funds in Swiss bank accounts to lessen their tax burdens, so it's gone after three bankers it accuses of responsibility for $1.2 billion worth of such shenanigans. Appropriately keeping with the anonymity of such accounts, the prosecutors didn't name the bank at which the accused worked. More »
If TiVo is in the news in these days of its irrelevance, it's usually because it's won another massive settlement dispute with a company it accused of ripping off its tech. After getting $500 million from Dish Network last year, TiVo has now shaken down AT&T for $215 million. More »
Since state and local governments began slapping heavy taxes on cigarettes, a number of smokers have managed to pay less by buying loose tobacco and rolling their own. But as a growing number of stores have begun offering free-to-use roll-your-own machines that take the loose material and spit out a pile of smokes that look like they came straight out of the carton, some lawmakers are crying foul. More »
Back in 2009, a man sued PepsiCo, saying he found a dead mouse in a can of Mountain Dew. Pepsi wanted to prove its innocence by suggesting its high-caffeine drink is so extreme that it would have dissolved the mouse carcass, rendering it a "jelly-like substance." More »
In 2007, Venezuela nationalized its oil assets, violating contracts with oil giants such as Exxon. A Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce arbitration panel awarded $908 million to Exxon, and the outcome is being viewed as more of a victory for the country's state oil company than the company. More »
A U.S. appeals court says it's just fine that certain telecommunications companies cooperated with the National Security Agency by monitoring customers' email and phones, upholding a 2008 law. This means they've got immunity, rendering 33 lawsuits against them ineffective. More »
Seven years ago Chilean newspaper La Tercera made the mistake of printing a recipe for churros that ended up resulting in explosions of hot oil, injuring 13 readers. The case has finally been resolved by the country's supreme court, which ruled that the paper must compensate the victims. More »
In the past quarter-century, Congressmen have gone from super rich to super-duper rich, while their constituents have remained relatively poor. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are doing quite well for themselves, raising their median net worth from $280,000 to $725,000 from 1984 to 2009. In the same span, the average net worth of American families has dropped from $20,600 to $20,500. The inflation-adjusted figures come from Panel Study of Income Dynamics from the University of Michigan. More »
Gay couples whose marriages aren't viewed as legitimate by the federal government have to pay heavily due to the indignity. Same-sex couples reportedly pay as much as $6,000 more a year in taxes because they aren't allowed to file jointly. More »
Online poker and other forms of non-sports internet gambling could become legal, thanks in part to a recently released U.S. Department of Justice opinion on a 50-year-old law. More »
Back in March, word spread that the Fiesta Bowl committee was allegedly rife with corruption. Bowl officials, which run the so-called nonprofit, were accused of buying favor with power brokers and politicians by taking them off on luxurious junkets, including potentially illegal trips to football games. It turns out politicians involved in the shenanigans won't face charges, because an Arizona county attorney doesn't feel confident he can prove the fact that elected officials knowingly violated the law. More »
As the deadline to approve the payroll tax cut extension looms 10 days away, White House officials are speaking out to urge Republicans in the House of Representatives to approve the measure that only days ago was hailed as a bipartisan compromise when it passed in the Senate. However, the White House says Republicans have now changed their tune. More »
This morning, the Environmental Protection Agency announced its new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, a set of national regulations aimed at reducing power plant emissions of mercury and toxic air pollution like arsenic, acid gas, nickel, selenium, and cyanide. More »
Earlier this week, we told you about how the torrent freaks at TorrentFreak claimed to have discovered that some people at anti-piracy stalwart the Recording Industry Association of America had been illegally using BitTorrent to download copyrighted material, including five full seasons of Showtime hit Dexter. RIAA has since come out with an explanation, one that sounds exactly like the defense used by the very people it has pushed to have prosecuted — "it wasn't us." More »
A federal crackdown on online poker sites continues to rake in chips. In a reported plea agreement, a man who co-founded the gambling site Absolute Poker pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Federal regulators accused his organization of deceiving banks by masking customers' gambling charges with names of online retailers. More »
The hallowed halls of the Recording Industry Association of America, where all music is bought at full price and never shared, lest people face violations of up to $150,000 per pirated item, has reportedly been infiltrated by ne'er-do-wells who think they can BitTorrent copyrighted material at work and not be caught. More »
The New York man who pleaded guilty to uploading a nearly finished work print of X-Men Origins: Wolverine to the internet a month before it hit theaters, has been sentenced to a year behind bars in federal prison for letting the world see how mediocre the movie was before they had to pay $10 to see it at the theater. More »
The Federal Reserve is expected to roll out new rules soon that could make big banks keep more capital reserves on hand, presumably leaving them with less money to lend. The idea is to make banks act more responsible with their stacks of chips and not need the government to bail them out. More »
The countdown clock is on for health care reform. This morning, the Supreme Court announced that it has set aside three dates in late March to hear arguments surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. More »
Daniel Ruettiger, aka Notre Dame football folk hero immortalized in the movie Rudy, apprently didn't want to be the underdog any more. So he tried to make a go against Gatorade with Rudy Nutrition in the sports drink market, only to get busted by the SEC for allegedly running a stock scam. More »
In spite of the fact that regulations to phase out high-wattage incandescent bulbs were signed into law in 2007, the ability to buy antiquated, inefficient lighting somehow became a lightning rod topic in recent months. And so legislators who want to defend your right to waste electricity (and still be able to use your old Easy Bake Oven) managed to find a way to stave off enforcing the rules until next fall. More »
Rest assured that the government is determined to prevent the events from Rise of the Planet of the Apes from unfolding. Kidding aside, the government aims to ensure humane treatment of chimpanzees. The National Institutes of Health announced that they won't give out new grants for biomedical and behavioral research on chimps because they deserve "special consideration and respect." The organization acted on a recommendation from the Institute of Medicine that concluded most chimp research is unnecessary. More »
If you really love $1 coins, you're probably in the minority. The U.S. Mint announced their vaults are jammed so full of the things, they're going to pull back on producing them. Not only do they have enough hanging around, the dang things keep coming back because people just don't want them. More »
The Washington, D.C. Department of Public Works is apparently so dedicated to enforcing recycling laws that they're willing to dig through trash to find evidence to issue fines. A resident says she's been stuck with $2,000 worth of fines, some of which come from a government employee who admits to discovering her violations by snooping in her garbage. More »
Consumers have limited options in Pennsylvania right now when it comes to getting booze, as the state-run Liquor Control Board runs all the stores selling liquor, wine and beer. But new proposal could be close to passing in the legislature that would shake things up a bit and offer more options for shoppers. More »
The day could be coming when it would be illegal for that girl yapping on her headset in the lane next to you on the freeway to be yapping at all, even on a hands-free cell phone. The National Transportation Board said states should ban all cell phone use for drivers More »
The mysterious case of Carrier IQ and its software that some claim is tracking every move on our phones continues, as the company denies ever providing phone users' data to the FBI for law enforcement purposes. More »
Today the Federal Communications Commission is expected to pass regulations requiring that all commercials on TV be at a constant level — which means no sudden blaring of Wacky Wild Wally screaming at you about the best RV deals in town. Well, he might still be screaming but he won't permanently damage your hearing. More »
Well, that was quick. On Friday, we wrote about the iOS app that allowed users to craft fake driver's licenses — for the sole purpose of entertaining and amusing their friends, of course — and how one U.S. Senator had appealed to Apple CEO Tim Cook to have it removed from Apple's online store. Looks like that may have been sufficient, as the app has is no longer on sale. More »
After Republicans blocked the confirmation of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, North Carolina's Sen. Lindsey Graham is explaining that he just doesn't want a Soviet dictator like Joseph Stalin to have so much control. Ostensibly in this comparison, Cordray is Stalin? We're not quite sure. More »
Your salsa may have more of a kick to it than you know. The Food and Drug Administration announced that Pacific International Marketing has recalled 6,141 cartons of cilantro that might have been contaminated with salmonella. Cilantro is often used in salads and salsa. More »
The Internal Revenue Service has $153.3 million in tax refunds burning a hole in its pocket, but can't find any takers. The agency says mailing address errors have rendered 99,123 refund checks undeliverable. More »
Apple is having a tough go of it over in Europe, as they're involved in various lawsuits in several countries, including one they just lost. Motorola Mobility just scored a big hit against Apple, winning a patent infringement suit against them in Germany. More »
After JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon complained over how the rich have to pay so much in income taxes, claiming he and his fellow wealthy "wage-earners" end up shelling out 50% of their incomes to the government, we took the chance to ask the White House what they thought of that. More »
Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, Brian Deese, spoke with Consumerist today during a conference call where he stressed the importance of Richard Cordray's confirmation as director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a confirmation that was blocked earlier today by Senate Republicans. More »
A vote today in the Senate over whether or not to confirm Richard Cordray as the new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been blocked with a filibuster by opponents of the current structure of the bureau. More »
Anyone who hand shreds unwanted credit card solicitations knows how thick those envelopes can be — with forms full of interest rates, fine print and unnavigable terms. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a new, shorter form yesterday, so that you wouldn't have to wade through pages full of credit jargon. More »
It feels like it was ages ago when former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray (not to be confused with his doppelganger NBC page Kenneth Ellen Parcell) was announced as the White House's nominee for director of the recently formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now it's almost time to cue some sort of dramatic music as the Senate is expected to thumbs-up-or-down the nomination on Thursday. More »
Opting not to buy into name brand hype can be cheaper, but in the case of one company that manufactures vibrators, knockoffs might mean a legal battle. A Canadian company claims that Walgreen's online-only entity Drugstore.com is importing knockoff sex toys and selling them in the U.S. More »
In a page ripped from the script of Scarface, except switch out drugs for e-books and Tony Montana for Apple, European Union anti-trust officials are looking in to whether five publishers of e-books have colluded with the makers of the iPad, offering them lower book prices than they do for everyone else. More »
Silly insurance companies, forgetting to pay off policies owned by beneficiaries of dead policyholders. Good thing state governments are there to help refresh their memories. More »
Today the government reported 120,000 new jobs for November, which might sound awesome but is actually considered weak, even as unemployment rates dipped from 9% to 8.6%. Better than blatantly bad news, right? More »
According to a report, for-profit colleges are making things tough for students by charging exorbitant fees, engaging in high-pressure recruiting efforts and supplying degrees that don't do as much for students as promised. The report contends more oversight from state governments could better protect students from the institutions. More »
A number of dentists who fear what effect a negative review on a site like Yelp can have on their business have been compelling patients to sign "privacy agreements" that aim to stop annoyed customers from going public with their complaints. But one patient has decided that these agreements go too far, especially after his comments on Yelp resulted in his dentist coming after him for money. More »
Our ever-vigilant parents at the Consumers Union are taking action against three new bills set to be vote on in the House of Representatives Friday, publishing a letter to show how proposed reforms in the bills would contribute to damaging many consumer protections. More »
Modern Americans love our horses, and not for eating, so we're betting the news that Congress has lifted a ban on funding horse meat inspections, potentially enabling slaughterhouses to open, will be met with a bit of outrage. It's not a simple matter, however. More »
Update: AT&T has responded to the release of the FCC's report on their merger application, and they're really not too happy about it. Their view is that the report was just a draft and furthermore, they never got to see it first. More »
Three years after the Federal Trade Commission leveled charges against Facebook, claiming the social networking site violated users' privacy, a settlement has been reached. Part of the terms of the proposed settlement requires Facebook to undergo audits for 20 years. More »
Diners in New York City are used to seeing letter grades posted in restaurant windows, which can act as an either an inducement to eat there or a turn-off. And now, one local politician wants to apply that same grade standard to food carts operating in the city. More »
Start greasing up your piggy bank, Ticketmaster users! If you bought tickets from the online behemoth between October 21, 1999 and October 19, 2011, you could be entitled to anywhere from $1.50 to $25.50 as part of a settlement in a class action suit. More »
Hammering out a prenuptial agreement with your betrothed certainly isn't the most romantic of moments, but it may just be the decision that saves your financial sanity a few years from now when your life has become hell and it comes time to undo the sanctity of marriage. More »
With so many people lining up at the airport today and tomorrow to fly home to stuff their stomachs with, well... stuffing, one U.S. Senator has introduced two pieces of legislation aimed at reining in the checked bag fees charged by airlines. More »
Lovers of Lynchburg Lemonade, rejoice: A proposal to tax barrels of Jack Daniel's whiskey has been defeated before it even made it to the state legislature in Tennessee. More »
Even though Bank of America and a few others have — for now — ditched their plans to charge customers a monthly fee for making purchases with debit cards, the Justice Department has decided to look at the possible antitrust considerations surrounding the controversial proposals. More »
Last moth, some gamers were irate when their PlayStation 3 copies of Battlefield 3 didn't include the promised bonus of an older game in the series, Battlefield 1943. Now a law firm has sued publisher EA on behalf of gamers, framing the broken promise as a bait and switch. More »
The one company that will forever be linked to the financial meltdown in the final years of the last decade is AIG (or American International Group, if you're not into the whole brevity thing), which was bailed out and then effectively taken over by the U.S. government. Now a company led by AIG's former CEO has filed suit against the feds, alleging that said takeover was unconstitutional. More »
Drug giant Pfizer will have to squirt out $60 million in order to settle allegations from the feds that it bribed foreign companies, violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which forbids companies from making deals by paying off foreign officials. More »
Every day, people in America get married. Some of them change their last names. Evidently, though, no one in the history of Chase Bank has ever done this while they were in the middle of paying off their car loan. See, until the loan is paid, the bank has a lien on your car's title. If you want to change the name on your car title and the loan hasn't been paid off yet, Chase won't let that happen. This isn't a problem unless you have to move and register your car in a different state after your name change but before the car is paid off. That's what happened to Michael's wife, and how she ended up in a loop of bureaucracy sending them back and forth from Chase to the Maryland Vehicle Administration. More »
Three months ago, the city of Glendale, CA, approved a ban on the use of artificial grass on residents' front yards — and now authorities plan to go after folks who haven't ripped up their faux greenery and replaced it with the real thing. More »
Earlier today, the White House — along with the EPA and DOT — formally announced their proposal to improve fuel economy over the next decade and a half, with the goal of achieving fuel efficiencies equivalent to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. More »
A judge in Georgia is quickly becoming an internet folk hero after he publicly slammed U.S. Bank for taking billions in government bailout money and all the while refusing mortgage modifications for homeowners in need of help. More »
In advance of Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act, a coalition of national consumer groups has reached out to the committee to urge them to stop this legislation, which they believe is too far-reaching and could end up hurting the consumers it intends to protect. More »
You're probably familiar with the long-running HBO special "Taxicab Confessions," in which cab passengers —often under the influence of some sort of intoxicant — open their hearts, minds, and sometimes their blouses to drivers of taxis rigged with multiple hidden cameras. Now the UK city of Oxford is turning its entire fleet of cabs into rolling recording devices. More »
We all knew this was going to happen; it was just a matter of when. Today, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the appeals in the case to strike down — at least in part — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. More »
Retailers are trying to push layaway this holiday season as a way to buy stuff you don't immediately have the money for. For people without available credit, this can be a way to eventually get what they can't afford now. But NY Sen. Chuck Schumer is warning that layaway fees can add up to be a much higher interest rate than any credit card would be allowed to charge. More »
Thanks to a loophole in federal law, those elected to Congress are allowed to use inside information to buy and sell stock. Some allegedly take advantage of the information for personal gain. More »
911 emergency services are a very helpful community resource, but they have their limits. They cannot, for example, deliver you a pizza. Or transfer you to AppleCare when your iPhone doesn't work. That didn't stop a man in Illinois from doing the latter...and then getting arrested for it. More »
The Food and Drug Administration is going after businesses suspected of selling cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to minors, sending out letters to 1,200 stores and threatening eventual fines if they fail to comply with the law. The FDA says it has conducted 27,500 inspections to make sure retailers aren't violating restrictions on such activities as setting up cigarette vending machines, selling cigarettes and failing to check IDs. More »
If you were to subtract the cost of health care expenses from family incomes, an additional 10 million more Americans would be considered in poverty by official measures, the U.S. Census Bureau said this week in a new report. More »
Discarded plastic bottles account for around 30% of trash at the Grand Canyon, so in an effort to reduce the amount of waste left behind by the oodles of visitors, the park was all set to launch a ban on the sale of bottled water. But then, after the folks at Coca-Cola voiced their concerns, a top national park official decided to pull the plug on the program. More »
Some jobs require more than just a uniform; they require specific clothing that must be taken on and off at the place of work. But that doesn't mean that the employee gets paid for the time slipping in and out of these necessary duds. And that's why a pair of nurses in Colorado have filed a class action lawsuit. More »
Authorities say a Colorado man was so irate over not being able to buy the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 at a Colorado Best Buy that he said he would shoot staffers and blow up the store. The man allegedly went into a rage at the customer service desk after employees revealed the store ran out of copies of the game early Tuesday morning. More »
Rachel thought she would never see her stuff again. Someone had stolen the Christmas gifts she left on the backseat of her car parked in front of her house overnight, along with her iPod. It was $460 out the window. But when she went back to Macy's to replace some of the gifts, her Spidey-sense started tingling. More »
As has been discussed here on numerous occasions, even though Amazon.com didn't charge you sales tax on that laptop you purchased, you still may owe it (though very few people ever pay). Thus, once again, a bipartisan group of Senators in D.C. have introduced legislation that would require online retailers to collect sales tax. More »
Like the irresponsible son who goes to his daddy asking for money to cover gambling losses so loan sharks don't bust his kneecaps, Fannie Mae is begging taxpayers for $7.8 billion because it lost so much money last quarter on derivatives. The $5.1 billion loss in the third quarter dwarfs last year's awful third quarter shortfall of $1.3 billion. More »
A delivery woman who slipped and fell at a Colorado Walmart will collect $10 million from the company, thanks to the state Supreme Court, which gave a thumbs-up to the majority of the settlement decided in a jury verdict. Before you go getting jealous of the victim, bear in mind that she underwent three spinal surgeries, couldn't return to work and lost her truck. More »
To settle a class-action suit over reordering transactions to maximize overdraft fees, Bank of America agreed to pay out $410 million months ago. A judge has now approved the settlement, and the bank has coughed up the money into an escrow account from which it will be distributed to customers who were part of the suit. Those who had a Bank of America debit card between January 2001 and May 24, 2011 will automatically receive a payment of at least 9 percent of the fees they paid. More »
A man says that he worked on Sunday, and, because of daylight saving time, his boss only wants to pay him for 8 hours instead of the 9 he worked. Is this legal? More »
If Verizon "erroneously" charged you for accidentally pressing the "Get it Now" or "Mobile Web" buttons on your phone, you can file for a refund, thanks to a recent class action settlement. More »
While many industries were forced to downsize over the past few tough years, the government found a way to grow. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the federal government increased its workforce by 12 percent since the start of the recession in December 2007. Meanwhile, overall employment has fallen almost 5 percent in that span. More »
If you're sued for eviction by your landlord in New York state, whether you win or lose the case, your name goes on a list that then gets sold to other landlords looking to screen out potential nuisance renters. Wanting to keep his name and record clean, one Manhattan man has preemptively sued to bar his name from being added to the list. More »
In the realm of armed robbery, it's become a fashion "do" to don a Spider-Man mask while committing the deed. A rash of robberies in a few states have started to portray the comic book crime fighter in a poor light. More »
A Food and Drug Administration study found that those who suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can take medications without increasing their risk of heart problems. The study focused on patients ages 2 through 24. More »
Federal investigators are attempting to sort out how New York-based derivatives broker MF Global has apparently up and lost $600 million of customers' money. The FBI, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission are all reportedly investigating, amid accusations that MF Global has broken federal rules for keeping customers' money separate from the business's own assets. More »
There's a decent chance that slaves have handled something you own. The coltan in your smartphone. The beans in that coffee you're sipping. The cotton in the underwear you're sitting in. All around the world, forced labor is used to mine and harvest the raw materials that goes up the supply chain and into the products you own. So how many slaves do you have working for you? This interactive, beautifully designed, 11-question survey calculates it for you. More »
Police have told a North Carolina town that they could stop responding to 911 calls and investigating misdemeanors unless it provides more money to cover gas costs. The reduction in services could be the next cuts in Smithfield, after the force halved the number of patrol cars on duty during certain times. More »
Among the issues that the United Nations and United States can't quite agree upon is the amount of human beings living in the world. The U.N. estimates that we just surpassed the 7 billion world population mark, but if you go by U.S. Census Bureau projections we won't get there until several months from now. More »
In an attempt to quell drug shortages that are affecting patients around the country, President Barack Obama ordered the Food and Drug Administration to adjust policies in order to streamline the process of getting drugs into patients' hands. More »
Authorities are investigating the possibility that a US Airways flight attendant who died during a layover in Mexico City was murdered. The 33-year-old employee, who was based out of Phoenix, was found dead in his hotel room, stripped naked and tied up. More »
Law enforcement officers put themselves at great risk, perform a vital public service and give society the peace of mind to be able to function with confidence. Even so, it has been said that some cops have been known to do things that could be classified as annoying or abusive. More »
Accurate data entry is important. Need proof? Just ask the woman in Italy who was taken to the hospital for a dizzy spell after receiving a €32,000 ($44,500) parking ticket. How long does a car have to be parked to receive that kind of fine? About 1,800 years. Wait, what? More »
Buoyed by brisker consumer and business spending, The American economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.5% in the third quarter, according to a report released this morning by the U.S. Department of Commerce, More »
In a way, the U.S. government has lifted up the seat cushion it knows as Iraq and dug out the $6.6 billion in pocket change it believed it had misplaced during the early days of the conflict. A new report says the money was never lost, but instead was placed under the control of the Iraqi government, as intended. More »
The Obama administration has announced two initiatives to lower student loan payments for some borrowers. One, an update to the existing income-based repayment program, will cap loan payments at 10% of discretionary income for certain borrowers. The other proposal will let some borrowers merge older student loans with newer ones. More »
If you've never heard of an "Internet Sweepstakes Cafe," or whatever other description the owners use, it's basically a place where customers purchase pre-paid "phone cards" that they then use to buy time on a computer to play in various "sweepstakes" for which they can possibly win cash. How is this now gambling? Well, that's the the question that the Pennsylvania state legislature is asking. More »
Life isn't always easy for one-percenters. Every now and again, high-profile white collar criminals get pinched by the legal system. The former head of a management consultant group is expected to face criminal charges for allegedly sharing inside information from Goldman Sachs board meetings to a hedge fund manager. More »
Bad: Having the TSA pawing through your checked luggage. Worse: The suitcase they chose to open includes a sex toy. Worse still: the person who went through your bags leaves a leering note. Specifically, they scrawl "GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL" on the notice of inspection. More »
Although some flights are uncomfortable, that's no excuse to try to bust open an emergency exit and take a leap. Authorities arrested a Delta Airlines passenger who allegedly tried to to just that Sunday. More »
Thanks to a federal court ruling, corporations that act badly abroad have to face legal repercussions at home. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals backed up decisions by two other appeals courts that found that corporations can be sued for war crimes and genocide under a 1789 law. More »
In order to tamp the scourge of artificial maple syrup being sold as the real deal, New York Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer are sponsoring a bill that would make it a felony. More »
Are you in a state that has saddled its citizens with a big debt load per person? This list tells you. It may surprise you that the state with the highest debt per capita is also the one with the most penny loafers per capita. More »
Earlier this year, Florida enacted a law that requires welfare recipients to pass drug tests to qualify for benefits. A federal judge stepped in and stopped the law in its track marks over concerns that it violates the Fourth Amendment, which bans illegal searches and seizures. The law would have forced recipients to pay for their own drug tests. More »
When you switch phone companies, you're allowed to keep your phone number. So why isn't there this "number portability" for bank accounts? Well, a bill has been introduced in Washington to let you do exactly that. More »
If you happen to be working as a clerk at a convenience store and aren't sure whether or not the guy causing havoc at the counter is the real Spider-Man, check and see if he's got a sword. Police say a North Carolina clerk confronted a ponytailed, Spidey-masked robber armed with a sword and managed to stop the heist by beating him down with a broom. More »
Back in February 2009, Comcast's standard-def broadcast of the Steelers-Cardinals Super Bowl in the Tucson area shifted to porn for 37 seconds. The incident was a black eye for Comcast and caused the company to apologize by offering $10 rebates to offended customers. Now a man has admitted to hacking Comcast's signal to cause the craziness. More »
A former tax examiner for the Washington, D.C. government was efficient enough at collecting funds, but not so great at handing them over to her employer. That was the case for a woman who pleaded guilty to wire fraud, swiping $400,000 over four years in fraudulent refunds. More »
The Labor Department provided a sign that the job market may be creeping out of its dreadful depths. For the fourth consecutive week, the rolling four-week average of people applying for unemployment benefits declined. The 403,000 applicants in the span ending last week were down from 409,250 in the frame ending the week before. More »
In an era burdened by pay freezes across countless industries, the only sure way to get a raise is to retire. Social Security has snapped out of its own rate freeze and is handing out a 3.6 percent benefits increase next year. More »
Starting August 23rd, airlines were supposed to start being more upfront on their websites about the fees they charge you. Guess what? They didn't. More »
The United States gave away a record number of its poor, tired, hungry and huddled masses in the fiscal year that ended in September. According to the director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency deported nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants, adding that more than half of the deported had convictions of felonies or misdemeanors. More »
In order to combat the rising threat of metal theft, Louisiana passed a law that prohibits anyone who trades used property more than once a month from conducting that transaction in cash. This should cut down on metal vultures stripping down the infrastructure to turn it into money for their drug habit. However, this also means you can't really hold a garage sale more than once every 30 days without some burdensome restrictions. More »
There's no word about what Tarot cards, life lines or crystal balls have to say about a Colorado psychic on trial for theft and tax evasion, but common sense says things don't look good for the suspect. She's accused of telling clients that their money was evil and she needed to cleanse it before returning it to them. She didn't follow through with the promise to give it back and allegedly made off with $300,000. More »
Several states and major banks are said to be close to sealing a deal that would protect banks from civil suits over sketchy mortgage practices in exchange for $25 billion that would help underwater homeowners refinance their loans. The deal could help the weak housing market. More »
Do phrases like "low fat," "gluten-free," "made with real fruit" and "good source of vitamin C" on the package of a processed fruit snack product make you think that the product is a healthy food? These phrases have all been on the packaging of fruit-like snack substances from General Mills: Froot by the Foot, Fruit Roll-Ups, and Gushers. Marketing copy on the front of a box is no substitute for taking a moment to read nutrition information and ingredients. But that hasn't stopped the Center for Science in the Public Interest from filing a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company tried to make consumers believe that their products were wholesome and fruit-based, not full of trans fats, preservatives, and food coloring. More »
A new class action lawsuit accuses several dairy industry juggernauts of paying mainly small farmers to send their entire herds to the slaughterhouse in order to reduce the supply of milk and jack up milk prices. More »
An ex-Target manager is suing his former employer, accusing the retailer of firing him for working during his lunch break. Ironically, he says it was retaliation for the complaints he had made about being denied uninterrupted breaks. More »
Grabbing whatever is around is not going to get you far when the police ask for your I.D. Even if it's a delicious taco! A man in Florida tried the taco trick, handing one over to officers after he was asked for I.D. More »
Visa and Mastercard have been accused of price fixing in a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the the National ATM Council. The suit alleges that nonbank ATM operators could charge customers lower ATM fees when they use other, cheaper payment networks, but are prevented from this by the set access fees Visa and MasterCard charge. More »
High school cheerleaders in Gilbert, Ariz. aren't allowed to wear shirts meant to boost breast cancer awareness that read "Feel for Lumps, Save Your Bumps." Administrators call the slogan objectionable and have banned the girls from wearing the shirts at football games. More »
When it comes to approving medical devices for patients to use, the Food and Drug Administration is handcuffed by conflict of interest rules that it says slow the process. A bipartisan trio of senators have introduced a bill that would ease the rules in favor of getting devices approved quicker, possibly at the expense of medical ethics. More »
Paying your student loan is enough of an annoyance without the Dept. of Education making it more difficult. Unfortunately, the new site for the Federal Student Loan Servicing Center has people tearing their hair out in frustration. More »
The folks over at Fearless Revolution have made several iterative amendments to JFK's 1964 Consumer Bill of Rights to update it for the modern age. More »
Here's a live webcast of the judiciary committee's hearing on mandatory binding arbitration going on right now. The title of the hearing is "Arbitration: Is it Fair When Forced?" Arbitration clauses appear in all sorts of consumer contracts and they mandate that in order to use the product or service, you have to agree to give up your right to sue if anything goes wrong. Originally designed for businesses to expedite disputes with other businesses, binding arbitration clauses are now also a popular way for companies to strip consumers of their basic legal rights. Since the hearing is chaired by Senator Al Franken, you know there's bound to be some good zingers. Pop the popcorn and sit back! More »
A Northern California woman is suing a sex toy manufacturer, saying she was hospitalized with pain and bleeding after using the device with her boyfriend. The woman wants damages from the company for personal injury, negligence, and breach of warranty. More »
Looks like at least one credit card marketer has cooked up a clever way around regulations that forbid unsolicited credit cards from being issued and showing up in your mailbox. More »
Remember, remember, the fifth of November, because that's when "Bank Transfer Day" is happening. By that date, all participants will have closed their big retail bank accounts and put their money in a local non-profit credit union or local or regional community bank. More »
A certain Scarlett Johansson photo you may have read about but certainly didn't check out yourself is part of a federal investigation that resulted in the arrest of a 35-year-old Florida man who is accused of hacking into online accounts of various celebrities. More »
If you've ever visited San Francisco, you've likely seen — and perhaps purchased — a coat or sweatshirt emblazoned with the city name in a distinctive script font, much like the "San Francisco" on jackets and other gear worn by the San Francisco Giants baseball team. Well, now the team, along with Major League Baseball, finds itself in a legal battle with the apparel company that says it owns the trademark. More »
One of the country's largest homebuilders stands accused of running afoul of Clean Water Act requirements at 278 sites in 14 states and must shell out a $625,000 fine. The government accuses the Ryland Group of leaking pollutants into stormwater and messing up procedures involving pollution prevention, inspections and permits. More »
Responding to an increase of contaminated waterways in the state, California's State Water Resources Board plans to test its 3 million acres of rivers, streams and lakes, which may have been polluted with nastiness including bacteria and pesticides. More »
Here's something neat. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cablevision/Optimum actually let customers opt out of arbitration when they sign up. If you don't want to give up your right to personally sue them in a court of law and be forced into a kangaroo court overseen by a judge whose fees are paid for by the company you're suing, Cablevision will let you. The caveat is that you have to tell them within 30 days of signing your contract. Here's the links and relevant contract language to opt-out: More »
When a pre-release iPhone 4 prototype went missing at a beer garden last year and ended up being sold to Gizmodo, the stakes seemed high. Investigators seized an editor's computers and charged two men with crimes connected to the alleged theft. But several months and an entire newer iPhone model release later, the drama turned out to be much ado about very little. Two men accused of selling the device were sentenced to a year of probation, 40 hours of community service and a not-so-whopping $250 restitution they must both pay to Apple. They pleaded no contest to charges of misdemeanor theft. More »
When news broke last week that some of the Air Force's drone aircraft had been infected with a virus, Air Force network security experts reportedly found out about the breach when everyone else did. Officials at a Nevada Air Force base may have known about the problem for as long as two weeks and never reported the issue to security. More »
A woman has filed a lawsuit against the movie Drive because she felt the moving didn't have enough driving in it relative to what was promised in the movie trailer. More »
The new $5 monthly fee Bank of America is charging debit card holders wasn't just picked because the spreadsheet guys really like Subway $5 footlongs. There's actually a calculation behind it. Here's the math. More »
There are numerous ways for makers of pricey brand-name drugs to delay the release of generic copies and hold on to the market for even a few months longer. They could make slight changes to the doses or even go so far as to buy a company that supplies a needed ingredient. But one pharmaceutical company is taking a new approach to putting off the release of generic versions — etching an additional score into the pill's surface. More »
Thanks to the Food and Drug Administration, those who suffer enlarged prostates have a new weapon at their disposal to combat the condition. Cialis, which messages in your spam filter repeatedly inform you has formidable powers of revitalization, can now be prescribed to pound away at prostates that have gotten too big for their britches. More »
Proposing to relax emissions standards for power plants in 10 states, the Environmental Protection Agency is allowing power plants to send more pollution across state lines than previously allowed. And plants that ignore the relaxed Cross-State Air Pollution Rule guidelines and keep on going pollution-crazy won't have to pay any penalties until 2014 rather than previously-planned 2012. More »
California's medical marijuana dispensaries are legal in the state, but in breach of federal law. Now feds are cracking down on businesses that distribute the product, telling them they have 45 days to shut down. More »
The U.S. General Services Administration has nailed tech company Oracle Corporation for allegedly violating the False Claims Act. The company will have to pay $199.5 million for failing to meet contractual obligations, apparently because it didn't provide correct information about sales practices and discounts offered to customers. The figure is believed to be the largest settlement collected under the act. More »
It takes an incredible amount of lock to win a lottery jackpot, and still greater fortune to win on a ticket you didn't even intend to purchase. A Georgia woman who was looking for a job won out on both fronts when she won on a ticket a clerk gave her by accident. More »
An Alabama law meant to crack down on illegal immigration may be so effective that the state won't have enough immigrant labor to fill its labor requirements. Immigrant farm and construction workers, as well as their legal citizen relatives, are reportedly said to be leaving the state in such high numbers that some employers may have trouble filling openings if the economy picks up. More »
A Wisconsin state legislative rep who Googled "Stupid Wisconsin Laws" has introduced a bill to overturn one of the dumbest ones he found: a law that forbids "colored margarine" from being served at a restaurant unless a customer asks for it. More »
An Arizona family is suing Cox cable company after one of the cable companies' outsourced technicians executed their son in a botched break-in. That ex-contractor is now sitting on death row. More »
Those who lost money investing with jailed shyster Bernie Madoff will be getting some of their ill-advised expenditures back this week, thanks to the bankruptcy court-mandated liquidation of his estate. More »
We imagine that food delivery drivers see their fair share of customers under the influence of any number of legal and illegal intoxicants. But unless the customer becomes belligerent or refuses to pay, it's pretty rare to hear about the authorities being called in. That's why a man in Colorado is fuming mad at his Papa John's driver. More »
One part of the debt-reduction bill Obama sent to Congress is a provision that would let debt collectors robo-call cellphones to collect on what's owed to the government, like federal student loans. More »
When you buy a new cellphone you have to sign a contract where you give up your right to sue. You agree to what's called, "mandatory binding arbitration." This is a bad thing to give to an industry that has high levels of complaints about hidden fees and abusive anti-consumer practices. Because if their crummy customer service fails to remedy an issue, your last resort option is to participate in a kangaroo court system that is paid for out of fees paid by the cellphone companies themselves. So Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Al Franken (D-MN) have today introduced The Consumer Mobile Fairness Act that would ban mandatory arbitration clauses in cellphone contracts. More »
Eight state governments are forcing bosses to give low-rung workers pay raises, thanks to automatic annual raises in minimum wages. Washington state leads the way, scheduled to up its minimum wage 37 cents an hour to $9.04 next year. Burger flipping in Colorado will still only pay $7.64 in 2012, but at least that's better than the $7.36 it pays now. More »
The studio that produced The Hurt Locker sued 24,583 unnamed people for illegally downloading the film. Now more than 21,000 of those John Does can breathe a little easier because the studio has dismissed them from the suit, leaving more than 2,300 in its sights. More »
A breast cancer survivor says she was forced to go through a patdown where TSA agents touched her breasts, even though she had already gone through the backscatter body scanner and had an ID card explaining the tissue expanders in her chest. More »
Those who live in 14,000-strong Greendale, Wis. have to make like campers sustaining themselves from a creek and boil all their water until further notice. The town's officials said in a statement that coliform bacteria were found in the water supply last week, and the tap water is no longer good for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth or washing hands. More »
In order to curb medical costs, Washington state lawmakers have capped the amount of annual "non-emergency" visits Medicaid patients can make to emergency rooms at three. Furious about the seemingly arbitrary restriction on patients' rights, a group of doctors has sued the state over the measure. More »
Medical marijuana and owning guns are both legal in the state of Washington. But before you're all like, oh, that is really scary/fun, don't worry/get too excited because the feds are not going to let those two things coexist. More »
Five disabled passengers have finally reached a settlement with Delta Airlines after a three-year battle against the carriers claiming discrimination at the Detroit airport. More »
There are a number of theaters across the country that like to combine movie-showing with beer-drinking and as long as all the patrons are of legal drinking age, there are usually no issues about what's being shown on screen. But the state of Utah has decided that if you show a movie featuring naked bodies, that makes your business answerable to the same rules governing strip clubs — and subject to thousands of dollars in fines. More »
Giving headline writers an excellent opportunity to make puns about aerospace workers getting high, federal agents arrested 37 Boeing workers in a drug bust at a plant near Philadelphia. The undercover operation was a four-year sting meant to expose a ring of prescription drug abuse. More »
Since '91, it's been illegal for telemarketers to use autodialers and other robot-like devices to call your cellphone. Last week, a bill was introduced to change that. While in the past email hoaxes have gone around saying that your cellphone could be opened up to telemarketers, HR 3035 seeks to let businesses contact your cellphone "for informational purposes." More »
Ronald at one point weighed 680 lbs, a fact that never interfered with his ability to do his job. He received high marks in his performance reviews. Despite this, he was fired for his weight. More »
Countless youngsters attempting to claw their way into the film business will gladly work for free, and a lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the production of the film Black Swan of exploiting those masses. Two men who worked on the movie claim the film broke labor laws by hiring more than 100 interns to do work that should have been handled by paid employees. More »
At one point, 14 people in the United States received medical marijuana regularly from the government. Started in a 1976 court ruling, the program that facilitated the unorthodox treatments stopped accepting applicants in 1992, but four surviving patients still count Uncle Sam as their drug dealer. More »
It's tough for consumers to rationalize how inflation could be a good thing, especially if they haven't received pay increases in years, but increasing costs are believed by many to be a sign of a healthy economy. That's why Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Wednesday that the central bank will keep a close eye on inflation levels and may altar monetary policy to maintain the phenomenon if prices start to level off. More »
A new report by the Office of Personnel Management's inspector general say the federal government has paid out over $600 million in benefits in the past five years to dead people. The money was meant to go to retired or disabled federal workers. More »
How long does your cellphone company keep logs of your text messages? Of the words you wrote? Of the calls you made? A Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina unearthed a Department of Justice document that breaks down the retention periods for each mobile provider. More »
Your cellphone rings from a number you don't recognize. You pick it up. At first there's silence. Then the sound of a call center kicks in and a person asks, "Hello, can I speak to Karen?" It's a telemarketer, or a debt collector, using an autodialer. And they just broke the law. And just for funsies, you can collect $500 or $1500 with just a few hours of work if you go after them. More »
Proving once and for all that childhood games of cops and robbers offer training for real-world crime prevention procedures, a Florida convenience store clerk foiled a robbery by pretending to be a policeman. Naturally, the masked woman he subdued turned out to be wielding only a toy gun. More »
Earlier today, we wrote about the $25 million settlement between the Federal Trade Commission and Reebok over the shoemaker's misleading ads for its EasyTone line of shoes. And while that $25 million in refunds is a nice slab of cash, it's chump change compared to what Reebok has spent marketing the shoes — and what it's earned off their sales. More »
In an unprecedented move, the SEC warned S&P that it might be suing it over its rating of a mortgage-backed bond. It's the first warning a credit rating firm has gotten over its behavior leading up to the financial crisis. More »
As we reported yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission was going to announce a huge settlement, involving millions in refunds to consumers, with some big name shoe company over deceptive advertising claims. And today it was revealed that it's sneaker biggie Reebok that has agreed to fork over $25 million in refunds to buyers of its EasyTone shoes. More »
We're at our most vulnerable when we're taking care of business in the bathroom. But the feeling of safety provided by a closed stall can sometimes be false. A woman who works at the General Services Administration Building in Washington, D.C. suffered the sum of all fears when her toilet exploded on her, sending her to the hospital with serious injuries. More »
An Idaho store that sells fur coats and fireworks was set on fire Monday, and a group of animal rights activist say they started the blaze that caused $100,000 in damage. The admitted arsonists say they will strike again if the business resumes operation. More »
According to lawsuits filed by five women, a St. Louis plastic surgeon violated their privacy, advertising his skills by posting naked pictures of them on his site. More »
Earlier today, the Federal Trade Commission posted a media alert for a Wednesday morning press conference to announce an action against a "major marketer of consumer goods" that will result in millions of dollars in refunds being given to consumers. But while the Commission wanted to keep secret the name of this mystery major marketer, they may have given it away in the URL of the media alert. More »
Groupon was hit with a second employee lawsuit alleging that the company failed to pay overtime. It's only the latest in a series of major setbacks for the social coupon site casting its future into doubt. More »
August's 5.8 magnitude earthquake has delivered a long-distance aftershock — the closure of the Washington Monument. Deciding that the structure had suffered more damage than originally thought, the National Park Service has shut the monument down indefinitely. More »
After the New Jersey Economic Development Authority passed a tax credit dubbed the "Snooki Subsidy" geared to bring more TV and film production to the state, governor Chris Christie has punched the legislation in the face. Christie's veto nullifies the $420,000 credit. More »
How does a blind guy tell the difference between a fifty and a dollar bill in his pocket? In this video, blind man Tommy Edison shows his method. More »
Science is getting closer to letting people see through the eyes of others. California scientists have determined a way to read brain activity and reconstruct YouTube videos subjects watched with the information. The research could be the foundation of taking the lifecasting concept a step further by broadcasting the mental images people create, meaning you could watch your own dreams as well as those of others. More »
Deciding to take away a final creature comfort from death row inmates on the verge of execution, Texas has eliminated the traditional last meal ritual, in which the condemned got to choose a favorite dish before he departed. More »
According to workers who spend their days underground in the New York City subway system, the rats that infest their work environment are rapidly multiplying and getting more aggressive than ever. The union TWU Local 100 has launched an initiative called New Yorkers Deserve a Rat-Free Subway to bring attention to the problem. More »
Any libraries concerned that the ebook phenomenon will render them obsolete could stand to take a cue from a Wisconsin library that has started lending iPads to members. The devices come pre-loaded with at least 1,000 classic books and are available for weeklong loans and four-hour in-library use. More »
If you or someone you know uses Primatene or any other over-the-counter epinephrine inhaler for asthma, the clock is officially ticking before they disappear off store shelves. The Food and Drug Administration announced today that, in an effort to cut down on products using ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons, these inhalers will no longer be available after Dec. 31. More »
In recent years, a number of U.S. states have crafted legislation intended to make sure that debt collectors are doing a thorough job of properly identifying debtors and proving that a debt is actually owed. But now these collections folks are fighting these laws because they apparently make debt collecting a less profitable venture. More »
A 2010 health insurance law that allows those under age 26 to stick to their parents' health insurance plans has allowed 1 million presumably uninsured adults in the age group to find coverage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the amount of young adults who lack health insurance has fallen from 34 percent from the beginning of 2010 to 30 percent in March. More »
Some people take their missing hot sauce far too seriously. An irate Taco Bell customer was so enraged after he found out his order was missing the condiment that he allegedly returned to the restaurant with a shotgun and pulled it on the offending employee. Now the suspect has been arrested and faces up to 10 years in prison. More »
Responding to allegations from the U.S. Department of Justice that Full Tilt Poker proprietors operated a global Ponzi scheme, attorneys of the online poker emporium responded with the legal equivalent of "nu-uh!" More »
Looks like Full Tilt Poker just went bust. The Department of Justice has accused the site's proprietors of operating a "global Ponzi scheme" in which the owners got paid with money they told players was being safely held. More »
In what has the appearance of a high-stakes, corporate sumo wrestling match, the Federal Trade Commission is reportedly investigating a hefty ad rate increase with which Google stung Microsoft. The investigation is said to be part of the FTC's antitrust probe of Google that's been going on for months. More »
Of all the places one would expect to see IRS, FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents storming through the doors, an IHOP in Ohio. That's why it's even more bizarre to hear that very thing went down today inside at least seven IHOPs. More »
Many airlines have inserted "checked baggage limitations of liability" into their contracts which try to act like it's not their fault if jewelry or gadgets somehow go missing during transit from your luggage. They're bunkum. More »
Sea World Orlando faces hearings this week that are connected to the infamous 2010 tragedy in which a killer whale caused the death of a trainer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration contends Sea World Orlando willfully put its employees in danger by failing to take enough safety precautions, including using proper barriers, decking or oxygen supply systems. More »
In the movie Wedding Crashers, Owen Wilson's character pours eye drops into an enemy's drink to put him out of commission and is rewarded with audience laughter. In real life, a Wisconsin college student does the same to her roommate and is charged with a felony that stuck her with 90 days in prison and 30 months of probation. More »
Claiming their free speech has been violated, advertisers are speaking out against the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission's decision to let taxi drivers decline to post ads featuring scantily-clad women on their vehicles. The companies are bitter that they apparently wasted the money they paid to create ads they now can't use as widely as planned. More »
In the slow but inevitable reaction to the scandal in which several Transportation Security Administration agents were accused of letting un-screened baggage make it on to flights, the agency fired 28 employees. Fifteen others connected to the alleged negligence — which is believed to have occurred over several months in Hawaii last year — were suspended. Three others left their jobs voluntarily. More »
Last year, a Boston college student caught a break when a judge reduced an earlier file-sharing judgment against him from $675,000 to $67,500, calling the earlier figure unconstitutional. Now a federal appeals court has wiped that relief away by deciding the Constitution is cool after all with the $675,000 fee and has reinstated the earlier judgment. More »
For more than a year, the folks at the Corn Refiners Association have been making a very public push to rebrand the controversial but widely used high fructose corn syrup as "corn sugar," telling consumers that "sugar is sugar." But newly uncovered correspondence between the Food and Drug Administration and Big Corn show that regulators aren't exactly thrilled about the new name. More »
Of all the critics the Transportation Security Administration has attracted, one of the last naysayers you'd expect to see would be a politician who had a hand in creating the bureau. But according to a conservative site, the Republican chairman of the House Transportation Committee who sponsored the bill that led to the establishment of the TSA in 2002 wants to dismantle and privatize the organization. More »
BP's infamous oil spill last year in the Gulf of Mexico might have been prevented had the company not offered incentives to workers to cut costs rather than improve safety. A 16-months-in-the-making government report concluded that there were five instances in which BP either cut costs, decreased drilling time or increased risks. More »
According to a nationwide analysis of car crash data, heavier restrictions on the driving privileges of 16 and 17-year-old drivers haven't necessarily made the roads safer. Although deadly accidents involving the youngest drivers have fallen, the number of crash fatalities in 18 and 19-year-old drivers has doubled. The implication is that younger drivers, who are forbidden from driving at night or with passengers some states, are simply older when they're still dangerously inexperienced. More »
No one likes to imagine their own undoing, but that's what the government has asked the largest American banks to do, mapping out liquidation plans in "living wills" that will help financial regulators pick apart their carcasses if they go under. The banks have until next year to submit their plans, which are mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. More »
Even though three U.S. Courts of Appeal have ruled on challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — though they haven't all agreed — and it will all inevitably be decided by the Supreme Court, lower courts are apparently still issuing rulings on the matter. More »
Have you ever been waiting for the ATM to dispense your monies and seen that little headjack for blind people and wondered, hey, how does a blind person use an ATM? This video shows what happens when Tommy Edison, a blind man, uses the ATM for the first time. It takes him 11 minutes. More »
Many of you will remember the story from earlier this year about the man with the Fourth Amendment written on his chest who filed a lawsuit against the TSA, alleging that he had been wrongfully detained after he stripped down to his running shorts at an airport security checkpoint. Now comes news that a federal judge has dismissed complaints against almost all defendants in the lawsuit. More »
We know the story. Chase and other banks got billions in bailouts that they were encouraged, but not required, to use to help people modify their mortgages. Instead they sat on it and smiled like cheshire cats. Now a movement has sprung up to punish Chase for its intransigence by withdrawing money from their accounts. On the individual account level, that's not much. But in New York state, entire towns are getting in on the act. More »
Authors who believe they are being ripped off by institutions of higher learning are taking four universities to court for scanning about 7 million copyright-protected books into a digital library, allowing students and faculty to download out-of-print work. More »
Many businesses offer paid sick days to stay competitive, but few laws actually require them to do so. Seattle joined the slim ranks by passing a law requiring businesses more than two years old with at least five employees to provide at least five days of sick leave per year. The city joins San Francisco and Washington, D.C. as the only municipalities in the country to require the benefit. The state of Connecticut also mandates paid sick leave. More »
Two years ago, Oprah promoted on her show a KFC coupon for a free grilled chicken meal. Now the class action lawsuit the resulted after that ended in tears has settled. More »
It's less than advantageous for a restaurant to be grouped with animal carcass removal companies. A Montana eatery suffered such an indignity two years ago in online and printed listings by by Dex Media, suffering a heavy hit to its reputation, even ending up as fodder for Jay Leno on his Headlines segment. The restaurant owner has sued for, among other charges, negligence, defamation and slander, and wants Dex to compensate the business for the money it spent building up the brand, as well as a TV commercial to set the record straight. More »
According to the National Labor Relations Board, workers have the right to publicly gripe about workplace conditions without suffering retribution. An NLRB judgment in a messy case last week reaffirmed the stance. An employee at a Buffalo nonprofit complained about the work ethic of a coworker on Facebook, and coworkers piled on in comments. After the organization fired the employees, citing an anti-cyber harassment policy, one of them filed a complaint via the NLRB. More »
The government has played a part in keeping video game companies as profitable as they are, offering tax incentives that bolster the businesses' bottom lines. Game companies have managed to benefit from a slew of arguably outdated tax credits, deductions and write-offs largely intended for other companies. Gaming companies also take advantage of a 1950s-era tax break, expanded in 1969 to include software companies, that lets businesses deduct research and experimentation costs immediately. More »
A Wisconsin landlord has been sued by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development after refusing to rent a property to a single mother. The landlord, who is a woman, said it was because the renter didn't have a man "to shovel the snow." More »
Last night, President Obama addressed Congress and urged them to pass the American Jobs Act immediately. Here are some of the highlighted proposals: More »
Police say a Los Angeles-area woman stole 2,000 library books, as well as a number of DVDs, and was suspected of planning to sell off the collection. Library staff notified authorities after they noticed massive numbers of books had gone missing between March and July, and that a customer was acting suspiciously. More »
Los Angeles is a city crawling with artists and graffiti vandals, and both sectors — as well as other folks who like to paint stuff for legitimate reasons — are big on buying spray paint. In order to keep closer tabs on the graffiti types, the L.A. City Council is proposing a law that would require anyone who buys spray paint to submit their address and identification so police can keep the information on file. More »
Money isn't necessarily safe in the hands of those who mint it. A U.S. Mint employee pleaded guilty to theft of government property and tax evasion, admitting he swiped $2.4 million in coins with errors and sold them to a California coin distributor. The $1 presidential coins he admitted to stealing were missing lettering, and the convict knew he could get a premium for them because the errors gave them more value in the coin collecting market. More »
The military has marched into the retail sector armed with an arsenal of unorthodox products, ranging from cologne and walking canes to hot sauce. If you'd like to smell like a Marine, you can purchase a $45 bottle of Devil Dog cologne. You can also spice up your food with some drops from a $7 bottle of U.S. Marine Corps Hot Sauce, which its bottle declares "Will Make You Stand At Attention." More »
The distributor of Nivea in Canada has been fined nearly 400,000 Loonies for marketing the "My Silhouette" skin cream as making you slimmer. As opposed to the usually vague nonsense talk surrounding skin and beauty product pitches, this one claimed users could expect a "reduction of up to three centimetres on targeted body parts, such as thighs, hips, waist and stomach." More »
The final of three federal appeals court rulings on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has come down, and this round goes to the White House. More »
Medicare has enough sustainability problems when used by the book, so the government-subsidized healthcare plan is in no position to absorb massive fraud. In an effort to rein in misuse of the program, federal agents led a 400-plus agency national sting operation that yielded 91 arrests of alleged fraudsters. More »
At some currently unspecified point down the road, you'll be able to go through airport security without taking your shoes or belt off. The policy easement was announced by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano during a forum hosted by Politico Playbook in DC. More »
It seems that uniforms were optional at a Vietnamese coffee shop in San Jose, Calif., where three female employees were cited after they reportedly were caught serving customers while topless. Cited on suspicion of public nudity, but not arrested, the women will be forced to appear in criminal court. More »
Following a groundswell of state bans on stimulant drugs sold at gas stations dubbed "bath salts," the Drug Enforcement Administration will reportedly place a temporary ban on possessing and selling the drugs. The drugs, Mephedrone, MDPV and Methylone, are sold under names such as Bliss and Purple Wave and are said to cause hallucinations and spark violence in users. More »
"I'm operating right now with a week's worth of cash," Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe told Senators on Tuesday. After the Postmaster General went to Capitol Hill to pass the hat around, the White House announced it's a few weeks away from developing a plan to save the USPS from bankruptcy. More »
If you want your name to be your website URL, you're most likely going to have to settle for the moniker as a nickname. A man described as a marijuana activist who tried to name himself after his pot advocacy website had his name change request denied by a trial court, and the decision was affirmed by an appeals court. More »
Senator Gary Siplin of Florida greeted returning high school students this week by personally handing out leather belts. It was a reminder that the law he got passed last spring, which requires that schools adopt dress codes that ban baggy, saggy, and underwear-showing pants, was now in full effect. More »
Before it even has a chance to deliver the next letter to Santa, the US Postal Service could be bankrupt. The USPS might not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment it owes this month. Lawmakers will hear all about it and ideas for staving off default in a Senate committee hearing today called "U.S. Postal Service In Crisis: Proposals To Prevent A Postal Shutdown." More »
The CEO of Starbucks emailed customers on Friday asking them to join hands with him and other business leaders to urge Congress to stop the nihilist political gridlock and get on with fixing our country. Tuesday night at 6pm he will host an online townhall meeting. At the same time, he's also set up an online petition where businesses can "pledge" to withhold campaign contributions as well as promise to start hiring employees. Is this the start of the "Coffee Party"? More »
Efforts to clean up the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Irene will charge a tab of $1.5 billion to taxpayers. The White House budget director released the estimate, which adds to $5.2 billion needed to mop up other disasters. The problem is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's funds are tight until Oct. 1, when the new budget kicks in. More »
Predictions of coming doom have been coming from the United States Post Office for months, with the service expected to suffer a $9.2 billion deficit this fiscal year and unable to make a $5.5 billion payment to cover employee health coverage due at the end of the month. Now the postmaster general has raised the stakes of the organization's financial crisis by declaring that it will default if Congress doesn't intervene. More »
If you're into buying, selling, trading or eating shark fins in California, you may want to live it up before a bill calling for the ban on sharkfin trafficking becomes law. The legislative effort, dubbed the California Shark Protection Act, would also make it illegal to dine on the Chinese delicacy of shark fin soup. More »
While you're lolling about by the grill and enjoying that frosty beer, you should know why it is your hard work is celebrated on the first day of September every year. Let's learn about Labor Day, shall we? And pass the chips. More »
Did you know that President Barack Obama signed an executive order in April that requires federal agencies to improve their customer service? Yeah, me either. But maybe fewer people will want to nominate the federal government as the Worst Company in America in 2012, because a recent survey by federal IT network MeriTalk indicates that the quality of customer service from the government is going up. A little. 31% of respondents said that they were satisfied with government services, up from 24% last year. The highest-rated agencies? The Social Security Administration and the IRS. More »
According to the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, those conflicts have been cesspools of financial mismanagement. The commission says between $31 billion and $60 billion of the total $206 billion in war-related contract spending has been burned in waste or fraud. More »
This chart from American Banker shows just how many nails are in the coffin of free checking at big banks in a post-Durbin amendment world. That is a whopping drop from 96% of large banks offering free checking in 2009 to only 34.6% in 2011. What's also amazing is just how resilient free checking is at the credit unions and smaller banks, which continue to use it as a marketing tactic to attract customers. More »
Laid-off workers who relied on COBRA subsidies to help pay for health insurance saw the benefits end Wednesday. Under the program, the government paid 65 percent of COBRA costs with federal stimulus dollars. Wednesday saw the end of 15 months of extended subsidies for those who lost their jobs between September 2008 and May 2010. More »
Florida is apparently under quarantine because of diseases that affect the quality of citrus fruit. This isn't information your average person from Wisconsin is in possession of, so when the United States Department of Agriculture wrote to one Waukesha woman to let her know that she'd have to give up her Meyer lemon tree, she was a little confused. More »
A New York judge got tough with a 15-year-old boy convicted of mugging a 73-year-old man, sentencing him for 2 to 6 years in juvenile detention. The judge said he would have given the boy the same 1 to 4 year state prison sentence as a youthful offender that he gave his accomplice if he had taken responsibility for the crime rather than taking back his initial confession. Because the boy with the 2 to 6 year sentence was not convicted as a youthful offender, his crime — unlike that of his accomplice — will stay on his record after he serves his time. More »
Security companies that track down stolen laptops don't necessarily have the right to peek into virtual bedrooms. A U.S. District judge ruled that there are potential grounds for a jury to find that a company violated a couple's privacy when it recorded their sex chats as it attempted to track down a stolen laptop the woman was using. More »
A pair of similarly named Chicago Polish sausage establishments — Jim's Original Polish and Jim's Original Chicago — are locked in a federal court battle over business names and marketing practices. More »
Now that economic adviser — and Consumerist pal — Austan Goolsbee has departed the White House, President Obama has a spot to fill. Today he announced the choice of Princeton labor economist Alan Krueger to be chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. More »
Though many of the large fast food chains ditched Styrofoam containers many moons ago, there are still plenty of restaurants that continue to use Styrofoam for packing up to-go orders for customers. But a bill before the California State Assembly could put an end to that in the Golden State. More »
A federal appeals court ruled that the people have the right to record police officers when they're on the job in public. A U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals judge found that a Massachusetts law used to ban such actions is unconstitutional. More »
This may actually be worse than having the world think you're dead. A new class-action suit claims that a credit and background checking company is reporting "hundreds or thousands of consumers as sex offenders in consumer reports provided to employers." More »
A suspected thief was so determined to nab an $800 sex doll that he allegedly stole a semi, crashed it into an adult shop and made off with the prize. More »
It seems the Hells Angels aren't cool with the idea of an L.A. fashion boutique slapping its name on a t-shirt. The notorious motorcycle club is suing the designer and several online retailers for copyright infringement. The shirt in question bears the message: "My boyfriend's a Hells Angel." More »
Bidding wars for defense contracts make particularly fertile ground for corruption, and a federal employee may have gotten caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar. Federal authorities have accused an Afghanistan-based U.S. Department of Defense employee of taking a bribe from a company there in exchange for helping to secure a government contract. The suspect was caught with a backpack stuffed with $95,000 in alleged bribe money. More »
Some people are afraid of relieving themselves in public bathrooms, while others have no qualms about heeding nature's call no matter the time or place. A 62-year-old man in Holmes Beach, Fla. allegedly falls into the latter category, judging by the way he up and let it flow on a supermarket floor. He was arrested for indecent exposure in public and driving with a suspended license, which had been revoked from an earlier DUI charge. More »
The bad news was that Anne's car was illegally towed from the parking lot of her friend's apartment complex while she was visiting him. The good news: this friend is a lawyer, who researched the situation and determined precisely why the tow was illegal. More »
In what at a first glance seems like an supervillain plot from a James Bond movie, Russia wants to dig a 64-mile tunnel that connects Siberia and Alaska. The $65 billion project would allow for travel via a high-speed railway and connect the countries with energy links and fiber optic cable. More »
Responding to Apple's lawsuit alleging it copied designs for the iPad and iPhone, Samsung's lawyers have pulled out video evidence from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. In a 1-minute clip, the lawyers imply that the iPad-style form factor predates Apple's devices. More »
Amazon, Google and other companies that allow users to store their music on cloud servers are within the law, according to a federal judge who ruled that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 protects the business model. The judge ruled in favor of cloud storage service MP3tunes, which was sued by record label EMI. More »
The Social Security disability fund may not be able to make payments come 2017, according to a new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). More »
The Federal Reserve got loan-happy from 2007 to 2010, handing out mega funding to several top banks and brokerage firms, such as Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bank of America. The secretive financial agreements were meant to stop the economy from plunging into depression. More »
According to a federal lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a Panda Express general manager at a San Jose, Calif. location mistreated Latino workers, assigning them fewer work hours and more difficult and dirty tasks than he did Asian employees. More »
One of the dark sides of pro football is the toll the game takes on players, leaving some with permanent brain injuries brought on by concussions. Seven former NFL players are suing the league over its handling of concussion-related injuries, alleging teams trained players to hit in ways that led to head injuries, failed to properly treat concussions and tried to hide links between the game and brain injuries. More »
When you choose a grade of gasoline at the fuel pump, you're taking the gas station at its word that the gasoline coming out of the nozzle is the octane you selected. But the Attorney General for the state of Texas has filed a lawsuit against a chain of filling stations, alleging that its premium- and medium-grade gasoline has been diluted with the regular stuff. More »
An Idaho truck mishap that left a river clogged with massive rolls of disintegrating, unprocessed toilet paper has finally been cleaned up after weeks of efforts by clean-up crews. The upper Lochsa River was clogged with the waste, foiling sanitation efforts until recently. More »
According to allegations made by a Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer, released by Congressional investigators, the organization has illegally destroyed documents related to at least 9,000 preliminary inquiries over the past two decades. More »
Standard & Poor's may be have a downgrade of sorts in store for itself, now that the credit ratings agency is the target of a Justice Department investigation into its ratings of mortgage companies before the financial crisis. More »
Reader S finally got his homeowner's insurance company to pay up for the rebuilding of the glass railings around his condo, thanks to a well-crafted and scary letter he wrote them. Here is his story, and his ass-kicking letter. More »
Much about the health insurance business is deliberately byzantine, intended to discourage customers from understanding all the fine details of their policies. But today the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a new way of labeling insurance policies that would spell out the costs and benefits of health plans in easy-to-understand language. More »
Only months after the federal government shut down access to online poker sites come reports that Congress could soon consider a bill that would legalize online gambling. More »
Every day in this country, more than 38 living, breathing Americans join the ranks of the living dead after their names somehow end up on the Social Security Administration's Death Master File. More »
An Idaho woman suspected of swiping a single can of beer from a grocery store last week was charged with a felony punishable by as many as 10 years in prison. More »
According to the American Kennel Club, dognappers are on a rampage this year, making off with nearly a third more canines than they did at this point in 2010. More »
Authorities say a flash mob organized online descended on a Maryland 7-Eleven and robbed it in less than a minute. At least 28 youths are accused of bombarding the store, cleaning the shelves and leaving en masse without paying a visit to the cash register. More »
In an effort to get the Food and Drug Administration to shut down its plans to slap graphic new warning labels on tobacco products, four large tobacco firms have sued the government. Big tobacco contends the labels will cost too much to print and will infringe on their rights to free speech. More »
A neighborhood is up in arms after, without notice, the utility trimmed several old-growth shade trees to make way for new power lines. They even took one down to the stump. PSE&G says emergency measures had to be taken to address resident complaints about outages. The Montclair homeowners say their street and property values have been damaged to provide power to a tony neighborhood and country club the next town over. More »
A federal judge shot down an appeal from Madoff investors who didn't just want the money they'd invested back, they wanted the amount of money Madoff said they were worth on paper. The judge said that Madoff's financial statements were "fictitious" and thus can't be used as a basis for claims by investors. More »
As regulations requiring all restaurants with 20 or more outlets to label their in-restaurant menus with calorie info go nationwide, the CEO of Domino's Pizza says the idea — as constructed by the federal government — just doesn't fit a business like his, given the variable nature of pizza and its many toppings and the fact that store owners are paying for sign updates that most customers will never see. More »
Famous uberrich guy Warren Buffett has penned a NYT editorial begging Congress to please, please, raise his taxes. Last year, he writes, they were only 17.4 of his taxable income. He says folks like him, who make over $10 million a year, are treated by Washington "as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species." It's time to stop the "coddling," he says and make the super-rich pay their fair share. More »
If you need motivation to encrypt your WiFi signal, consider the possibility that criminals may try to use your network for illegal activity. A former Tennessee police officer allegedly victimized churches, businesses and neighbors, using their WiFi to download child porn and share it with an online ring via a site he accessed at times while on duty. More »
A popular Brooklyn coffee shop's lawsuit against the New York Times just got chucked. The paper's City Room blog had reprinted the letter penned by eight employees who simultaneously quit over working conditions, and the owners of Gorilla Coffee felt that the Times' action was defamatory and an "intentional infliction of emotional distress." A judge disagreed. More »
"Let the wiener wars begin." That's what a judge in a legal battle between the nation's two biggest hot dog brands declared earlier today, as the makers of Oscar Mayer and Ball Park franks each accused the other of misleading and deceptive advertising practices. More »
Nice Cream is a small ice cream company in Chicago that does something strange and daring in the modern food landscape: they make and sell ice cream using only ingredients with names that ordinary people can pronounce. Ingredients such as "cream," "eggs," and "pie." The tiny company was a classic recession success story: a laid-off teacher experiments at home with her Cuisinart ice cream maker, and with hard work and creativity creates a delicious product that's eventually sold at Whole Foods. But the state of Illinois doesn't really see it that way, and Nice Cream will have to shut down or make drastic changes to its products and process in order to stay legal. They're first, and other small-batch ice cream makers could be next. More »
A pair of male thieves who dressed as female nurses are accused of robbing residents of Denver-area nursing homes, making off with credit cards they used at big-box retail stores. Authorities say the alleged criminals, who wear nurse scrubs, made their move when victims are dining or participating in other activities. The crimes could be connected to a national ring with similar incidents in Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, Kansas and Alabama. More »
According to gripes from the U.S. Department of Justice, the state of North Carolina is mishandling mental health patients, violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by failing to provide adequate housing. The DOJ may sue the state and force 1,200 mental health patients out of adult care homes — inadequate facilities which it says are operating as mental health care facilities. More »
Rap artist The Game pulled a Twitter prank Friday by posting the Compton sheriff's station phone number, encouraging his 580,000 followers to call the department if they wanted to apply for an internship. The station was bombarded with hundreds of phone calls for hours, and is now working on an official complaint it will file with prosecutors. Potential charges are "annoying or harassing phone calls via electronic device or the Internet whether or not a conversation ensues, delaying or obstructing a peace officer in the performance of their duties, and disrupting or impeding communication over a public safety radio frequency." More »
The legal battle over health care reform continued this morning after an appeals court in Atlanta ruled that the portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requiring Americans to have some sort of health insurance is unconstitutional. More »
It's never a good idea to declare your infatuation with someone by handcuffing yourself to them. Doing so when both you and your victim happen to work for a prominent fast food establishment only adds the shame of national headlines to your embarrassment. More »
The U.S. Postal Service continues to deliver awful news, proposing job cuts of as many as 120,000 workers in an attempt to temper costs in the wake of massive financial losses. Projecting to lose more than $8 billion for the second straight year, the USPS also wants to set up its own health plan, pulling employees out of the federal system. More »
Law school graduates in Michigan and New York who believe they were duped into making poor investments in their degrees have used their skills to take their alma maters to court in a pair of class-action suits. The grads say the schools misled them about their post-graduation job prospects, as well as their potential salaries. More »
New York City officials formally challenged the Census Bureau, contending 50,000 residents of four neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens were overlooked in the 2010 Census. The challenge is too late to affect Congressional district lines, but could result in more federal aid. More »
Perhaps figuring that if you can't trust pilots not to hijack their own flights, you may as well not let them fly in the first place, the Transportation Security Administration started allowing pilots to bypass security screenings Tuesday. Instead of being screened like everyone else, pilots show authorities their credentials. More »
When a pre-release iPhone 4 prototype wound up in the hands of Gizmodo last year, authorities began an investigation that led to the seizure of an editor's computers. Authorities allege that an Apple engineer left the prototype at a bar. Gizmodo admitted paying someone to get the phone, stating it didn't realize the prototype was stolen. Now Gizmodo editors can breathe easy, because the San Mateo County District Attorney has not brought charges against anyone from the site. More »
In what could be described as a streaming contest, Viacom and Cablevision have been legally sparring for weeks over how to divvy up the rights to control streaming video on iPad apps. Now the corporate giants have settled their differences out of court. In a joint statement, the companies announced that Cablevision will be allowed to stream Viacom channels, including MTV and Comedy Central, over iPads located inside cable-subscribing homes. More »
A 19-year-old Michigan man thought he'd do some unlicensed fishing but when he cast his line he ended up reeling in a jail sentence. Because he caught a fish out of season and couldn't afford the $215 fine, he was sentenced to three days in jail. The American Civil Liberties Union is using the fisherman's case, along with four others, to attack a state law it considers to be the modern-day equivalent of a debtors' prison. More »
Just as Bomont became known as the town that forbade dancing and rock music, Philadelphia could earn the reputation as the city that stifled flash mobsters. Hollywood would do well to base a Footloose-style film on Philly, which has placed 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday night curfews on teens in downtown Center City, where a recent flash mob left two injured, and college neighborhood Universe City. In the rest of the city, curfew is midnight for those ages 14 to 17 and 10 p.m. for kids under 13. More »
In a move meant to ease uncertainty in the markets, the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates low for the next two years. The Fed's target rates, which banks use to set loan rates, have been close to zero since 2008, and previously said they would stay there for "an extended period." The two-year designation is a sign that the Fed expects the economy to remain in troubled waters until at least 2013. More »
Incentivized standardized tests are designed hold teachers and schools accountable for student performance, but they also provide plenty of motivation to artificially inflate test scores. A teacher in Atlanta helped expose her colleagues of doing just that. More »
Parents can use a new iPhone app from the FBI to store photos and important information about their children and alert the authorities in case they go missing. More »
The for-profit college industry has earned a reputation for shady methods of operation, such as peddling flimsy academic credentials for high prices and minimal effort in the classroom, and now the government is taking one of the largest corporations in the industry to court. More »
Apparently oblivious to the fact that the government is experiencing some financial problems, Freddie Mac says it needs to ask taxpayers for $1.5 billion to help it cover the net worth deficit it's plunged into thanks to the housing market bust. More »
A soldier who was wounded in Iraq feels the Army did him an indignity by not only waiting four years to send him his Purple Heart, but delivering it with a $21 bill to cover shipping. The soldier, who hails from South Dakota, was wounded in a rocket blast in 2007. More »
If Sprint telemarketed you after you told them not to call you again, you could get $500 for each time they rang you up, thanks to a recent class action settlement. More »
If you happen to find yourself in Big Spring, Texas, you could be contributing to the water supply every time you relieve yourself. The town is building a plant that will capture and recycle treated waste water, planing to take treated water that would normally flow into a creek and redirect it into the drinking water supply. More »
Driving to New York from New Jersey could become more expensive, as proposed toll increases would raise the cost for using several bridges and tunnels — currently maxing out at $8 — up to $15 during peak hours in September, and as much as $17 in 2014. More »
While breast cancer in males is not common, it's no yellow lobster. But a South Carolina state program that provides Medicaid to breast cancer patients in need had to deny a patient because of his Y chromosome. More »
A Kentucky judge's order in a tense malpractice suit went viral this week after folks were amused by the corn-pone humor and mixed metaphors that he used to enliven a normally straight-forward legal document. Among the colorful phrases, the judge wrote that he was glad the case was settled as he would have preferred to "have jumped naked off of a 12-foot step ladder into a 5 gallon bucket of porcupines" than to preside over it. More »
Good news for Medicare enrollees who are on fixed incomes and counting pennies as well as pills: The price of prescription drug premiums in the program are expected to slightly dip next year. More »
The California Coastal Commission unveiled a new license plate design featuring a whale's tale tweaked slightly from the previous design, and an environmental nonprofit said the state did so because the artist who created the previous design asked for royalties to help fund the organization. More »
There's big business in tracking web browsing, and temptation to grab more information than is legally acceptable. A lawsuit alleges a web analytics company and its clients stepped over the line in snooping on browsing habits, particularly of those who try to cover their tracks. More »
Lotteries are said to be sucker bets for those who lack mathematical understanding, but some who understand systemic quirks can exploit them for huge gains. More »
Determined to limit the possibility of inappropriate contact between teachers and students, the Missouri state government has forbidden teachers from messaging students via social networks. More »
Every year, the Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) pedals through towns across Iowa. Some children in Coralville, one of the ride's host towns, wanted to participate in the event by selling lemonade in front of their houses for a quarter per cup. Police celebrated their entrepreneurial spirit by promptly shutting down at least three lemonade stands for not obtaining $400 vendors' licenses and a health inspection. More »
Three stainless-steel trash cans with motion-activated sensor lids: $314.93 each. A 500-lb capacity ottoman for the cafeteria: $469. Mahogany-finished conference room table: $3,000. The line items sound extravagant enough on their own. When you learn that they were to makeover a Detroit city office that handles the federal money for feeding and clothing the poor, and the credenzas and sofas and such came out of that money, it's time to get livid. More »
You need a flowchart and a spreadsheet to understand all the different stages of the debt ceiling bill that passed the House yesterday and is likely to pass the Senate today. But let's not get hung up on who does what to whom at what point, and when that super-awesome "sudden death mode" of spending cuts kicks in. Instead, let's look at what the debt-ceiling bill means to you and your wallet. More »
According to the Food and Drug Administration, morning-after pills labeled Evital may be counterfeit and unsafe and ineffective at preventing pregnancy. The label of the counterfeit pill reads "Evital Anticonceptivo de emergencia, 1.5 mg, 1 tablet" by "Fluter Domull." More »
As if debt-soaked grad students don't have enough to worry about as they approach graduation, the federal government has provided them with another horrific prospect to go along with the fear of not being able to find a job — the responsibility of paying off student loans while still in school. More »
Maybe the real reason Americans are so fat is because our food labels are so ugly. If they were easier on the eye to read, maybe more people would read them and make better eating choices. That was the idea in mind behind a recent design contest at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Journalism aiming to give the standard government-mandated food label a much-needed makeover. The winning entry uses colored boxes for each ingredient that are sized in proportion to how much of each is inside the package. More »
There's just a few hours to go before the deadline to vote on raising the debt ceiling and steer clear of a federal default. Late Sunday a deal was worked out and the House and Senate are expected to vote on it. Broadly, the deal raises the debt ceiling, reduces the deficit, and avoids a credit default. More specifically... everyone should read the 74 pages of the bill before making a comment about it. If you don't have time for that, the White House has also released a 1,465 word fact sheet, a "TL;DR" document of sorts for the nation. More »
A man has decided to turn a minor annoyance, getting a newspaper at your hotel room door and getting charged for it, into a class action lawsuit. More »
Late last month, an Institute of Medicine panel issued recommendations to the White House that birth control, along with a variety of women's health services, should be covered under the Affordable Care Act. Earlier today, the Dept. of Health and Human Services made its final decision on the matter public. More »
When you're a cash-starved school district, just about any idea to pull in some extra scratch can sound appealing. One concept that's catching on is turning school buses into moving billboards for paying clients. More »
Movie rental chains, book stores and newspapers aren't the only businesses that are dying off. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced three banks have been shut down, making 61 closures so far this year. Bank closures are still far behind the pace of 2010, when 157 banks were shuttered. More »
Three years ago, Vallejo, Calif. was so broke that it declared bankruptcy. Now a judge has approved the city's rebound plan, and it's emerged as a leaner, ideally more efficient entity with a balanced budget. More »
On the list of people likely to be growing marijuana on their property, an 84-year-old mayor doesn't rank near the top. But federal agents found the illegal plant growing on the woman's property in central Florida. The incident forced her to defend herself at an Oak Hill city commission meeting, at which she said she suspects a political enemy tried to set her up. More »
Naughty, naughty. Senators Jay Rockefeller and Maria Cantwell are wagging the fingesr at airlines for raising airfares during the tax holiday that has resulted from the Federal Aviation Administration's shutdown. The practice could have "long-term negative repercussions for the industry," said the senators in a letter sent to the airlines on Tuesday. More »
Fearful that federal debt problems would leave it hanging, California has passed the hat around to eight banks and wound up with loans for $5.4 billion. The interest rate: an astoundingly low 0.237 percent. More »
The U.S. Department of Justice is said to be investigating allegations that Wells Fargo discriminated against black borrowers, offering high-interest, subprime mortgages that seemed geared to lead to default. More »
Rocky Mountain National Park rangers don't typically charge imperiled hikers for rescue operations, but the agency may want to re-think its policy after having to save the same 68-year-old man with elaborate, time-consuming operations twice in a month. More »
When you're an Air Traffic Controller who gets fired, there's a 40 percent chance you'll manage to keep your job or retire on your own terms. The Federal Aviation Administration has trouble ridding itself of workers it accuses of screwing up, including two-thirds of those it tries to fire for using drugs or alcohol on the job. More »
Back in the late 1980s, lawmakers were determined to prevent movie rental companies from publishing customers' rental history. The Video Privacy Protection Act made violations punishable by $2,500 per offense. Now the law is causing headaches for Facebook and Netflix because it's reportedly written in a way that would forbid Netflix from publishing your rental history on your Facebook page. More »
A whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a doctor and nurse accuses a kidney dialysis provider of intentionally wasting medicine in order to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars from Medicare. According to the employee, the company used over-sized vials for medicine, intending to have the excess amount deemed to be waste that Medicare pays for. More »
Banks are none too happy about how the passage of Dodd-Frank has been crimping their style. So they hired a Wall Street lobbyist, former Congressman Steve Bartlett, to lead the well-funded rearguard action by the " Financial Services Roundtable" to neuter the laws. And darned if those cocktail parties aren't working. More »
According to the Lake County, Fla. Sheriff's Office, drug smugglers in Arizona sent 260 grams of meth to Florida via FedEx in a Meow Mix bag. The package was sent to a title company and was addressed to one of the business's clients who resided in D.C. An employee thought the package looked suspicious, so he turned it over to authorities. More »
Last week, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of a man who posted a threatening message online in 2008, calling for the assassination of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. In a divided ruling, which overturned the man's 2009 conviction, the written opinion declared that the threat would not have been taken seriously by a reasonable person. More »
Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finally took down its "Coming Soon" sign and hoisted the "Open For Business" banner. And as part of its grand opening celebration, the CFPB kicked things off with the launch of its credit card complaint portal. More »
Unless Congress can hammer out their issues over extending the FAA's operating authority by midnight tonight, 4,000 agency employees will be temporarily out of a job, but travelers will be able to but airline tickets without paying federal taxes. More »
The government bought a piece of Chrysler in a 2009 bailout that turned out to be a costly investment in an automaker deemed too big to fail. Now that the government has sold its remaining interest in the company to Fiat, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the arrangement cost taxpayers $1.3 billion. More »
Los Angeles County residents will want to keep a tighter leash on their dogs due to a new law passed by the Board of Supervisors that loosens the definition of how officials determine dogs to be "vicious." A dog that chases someone without causing an injury can now be reported, seized and possibly euthanized. More »
While New York may be trying to raise revenue by cracking down on city beekeepers, this looks like one sting operation that got its stinger broken off in the wound: inspectors fined a Queens man $2,000 for "not watering his beehive." More »
An appellate court has ruled that a lawsuit against a New Jersey restaurant that served meat to a group of devout Hindus can forward. The vegetarian dining party are suing the eatery for the cost it would take for them to travel to India and purify themselves in the Ganges River. More »
Yesterday, an Institute of Medicine panel released its recommendations to the federal government about which services for women should insurance companies be obliged to cover. Chief among the eight recommendations was that birth control should be made available without need for a patient copay. More »
While Republicans in the Congress and Senate continue to grouse about the structure of the newborn Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a new poll indicates that those politicians' actions may not be a reflection of their constituents' desires. More »
Liposuction turned fatal for three Phoenix patients, and the allegedly sloppy doctor who worked on them was convicted of second-degree murder in two deaths, and manslaughter in another. He'll be sentenced Aug. 19. More »
It's the middle of summer, and we all know what that means: adorable kids learning the basics of capitalism by running lemonade stands. Among those basics: you need to lay down a few hundred bucks at City Hall before you even think about buying lemons and paper cups. Three Georgia girls thought they would earn money for a trip to the water park by selling lemonade in their neighborhood. They were successful...until the police chief happened to drive by, and shut them down for selling lemonade without business and food vendors' licenses totaling $180. More »
After months of speculation and fighting over the leadership of the newborn Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the White House has announced that President Obama will not nominate Elizabeth Warren for the directorship, but instead will go with former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray. More »
Accusations of groping involving Transportation Security Administration agents are far from unheard of, but it's rare that it's a security officer who's the one filing the complaint. Yet a Colorado woman stands accused of groping a TSA agent at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport Thursday. More »
Poor gigantic corporation Forever 21! They just can't stop getting sued by people claiming they've stolen stuff! In the latest lawsuit against the low-priced fashion chain, the Feral Childe line claims Forevs ripped off one of their textile prints. More »
"Grandma, what are you doing on the Internet? Oh, downloading porn illegally?" Yeah, that scenario doesn't seem too likely, but nonetheless, a 70-year-old woman is being told to pay up in a settlement pushed by a Chicago law firm, claiming she and others pirated porn. More »
An appeals court panel in Washington, D.C., ruled today that the government jumped the gun by not seeking public feedback before rolling out airport scanners that see through travelers' clothes. Unfortunately for those opposed to these devices, the scanners are not going anywhere. More »
It's the end of an era. In an effort to save cash and cut down on waste, the Dept. of the Treasury announced earlier this week that paper savings bonds will be a thing of past starting January 1. More »
If you get a parking ticket in Northampton, Mass., don't appeal it unless you want to bet $320, in addition to the cost of your ticket, that you'll win. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the town's appeals process is valid, ruling against a man who appealed two parking tickets and was forced to cough up about $320 in court fees. The original fine was $15. More »
What makes this Bank of America $410 million class action settlement special is that it's over a basic consumer banking business practice. For years, banks have been processing your daily transactions in order from highest to lowest, rather than real-time. They say they're doing us a favor so that if we have a check bounce, it's the one for the babysitter and not the mortgage payment. But this class action suit claims that Bank of America did this to unjustly enrich itself. It's one of over 60 lawsuits against various banks for similar practices, and it could reshape the entire industry. More »
Even Uncle Sam needs to make his payments on time or risk taking a hit on his credit rating. Moody's is reviewing the U.S. government's Aaa government bond rating, and could downgrade it if government gridlock fails to raise the federal debt ceiling. The government has reached its $14.2 trillion debt limit and lacks congressional authority to borrow more to pay its bills, according to the Treasury Secretary, starting Aug. 2. More »
There are only a few months to go before a long-awaited ban on inefficient light bulbs kicks in. And even though Congressional opponents of the regulation failed yesterday in their bid to stop it, they have vowed to continue to fight for your right to buy cheap light bulbs that run up high electric bills. More »
A group of former assistant managers of New York Starbucks sued the company, saying it violated state labor laws by denying them tips. A U.S. District judge stiffed the workers, dismissing the suit because they didn't show they had the right to the gratuities. More »
If a law enforcement trade association gets its way, a federal law will require internet service providers to maintain logs of all web addresses customers visit for 18 months. The information would be used to prosecute crimes. More »
Good firewalls make good neighbors, but they won't stop a determined hacker from busting through and manipulating your cyber footprints. For proof, look at the Minnesota man convicted of hacking his neighbor's WiFi and attempting to frame him for child pornography and other crimes will serve 18 years in prison. More »
A former Caterpillar executive says in a lawsuit he was punished for calling out the company about sketchy tax practices — demoted and threatened with termination if he didn't take the allegedly lesser job. The man accuses the company of using accounting tricks to avoid paying $2 billion in federal income tax. More »
If you're a dreamer who totes a baseball glove to a ballgame and seeks bleacher seats in hopes of catching a home run ball, you may want to consider the tax implications of your whimsy. The man who chased down the home run ball that was Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit — and gave it back to Jeter — may face financial peril because of the windfall of swag the Yankees showered upon him. The IRS may consider the free season tickets and signed merchandise the team gave the man to be taxable income. More »
The IRS has a way of punishing people for getting married, but the marriage penalty hits gay public employees harder than straight couples. Unlike their straight counterparts, gay workers who place their spouses on employer-provided health insurance have to pay taxes on the benefits that can add up to $3,000 a year. Cambridge, Mass. will use a stipend to refund the "gay marriage penalty" to city workers affected. More »
(Warning: This post includes Tucson-Phoenix sh*t talking). I'm not sure what sort of reputation the Phoenix area has in the rest of the country, but those in my hometown of Tucson associate the locality with dog excrement. Officials in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert are making the best of their bumper crop by planning to use dog poop as a power source for a street lamp at a dog park. More »
Protections offered by the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which demanded more transparency and established tighter rules for credit card companies, have left some loopholes that expose users to potential exploitation. Credit card-offering banks, which rarely miss an opportunities to use credit to manipulate customers, are taking advantage of the law's shortcomings. More »
Plaintiffs have dropped their lawsuit against CBS Interactive, the parent company of CNET, that alleged the company helped others infringe on copyrights and profited from LimeWire downloads in 2008. More »
Even though the screeners at airport security checkpoints in the U.S. are employees of the Transportation Security Administration and those fancy new see-through-your-clothes machines are technically paid for by the feds, the airlines still have to fork over hundreds of millions of dollars per year for security theater. Several of them claim the TSA is overcharging to the tune of $115 million. An appeals court disagrees. More »
A 21-year-old Michigan inmate has filed a lawsuit that contends he's been stripped of civil rights because he isn't allowed to look at porn, claiming his lack of access to the material gives him a "poor standard of living" and "sexual and sensory deprivation." More »
A jury in Baltimore County, Maryland, has ordered petroleum giant Exxon Mobil to pay $1.5 billion in damages to residents and businesses of a town affected by a gasoline leak in 2006. More »
Chase is dropping thousands of pending debt collection cases against defaulted credit card borrowers, WSJ reports. Remember the big deal over robo-signing foreclosure cases a few months ago? The problem of bulk signing sloppy paperwork, and, in some case, filing fraudulent documents, could be even bigger when it comes to credit cards. It looks like JP Morgan Chase is trying to get its house in order before they're forced to by government and legal forces. More »
If you found a 35-year-old unpaid parking ticket pressed in a book that you bought in a garage sale, what would you do? An 89-year-old Michigan man who found such a ticket decided that it was his civic duty to mail the $1 ticket back with payment to Orlando, Florida, where it was issued in November of 1975. More »
It's cost taxpayers an unnecessary $300 million so far, and won't end until 2016. It's wildly unpopular with the American public, even though it saves the government money in the long run. It's taking up comical amounts of space in secure federal government vaults. What is it? The United States Mint's series of dollar coins featuring the faces of all 44 presidents. Congress meant well when authorizing the program in 2005, but failed to realize that the American public thinks that dollar coins are an icky Canadian affectation. One billion of the coins are currently in hibernation, and at least a billion more coins will be minted but destined for storage. More »
If you happen to be proud of your involvement in a pot growing operation, it's probably best to resist the urge to brag about your accomplishments on YouTube. A Southern California man led investigators to his alleged criminal enterprises by posting videos of his pot-growing setup. More »
Authorities say marijuana that was meant to be used as evidence in a Long Island drug case and was shipped via FedEx disappeared during shipment. Someone apparently opened the box, removed the contents, then resealed the package. More »
You don't have to show a proof of purchase to claim $15 in a class action lawsuit against Kellogg. Just be someone who bought Kellog's Rice Krispies or Cocoa Krispies between June 1, 2009 and March, 1 2010. More »
Looks like our research-relishing relatives at Consumer Reports aren't the only ones using mystery shoppers to help with their investigations. A new report says the federal government is bringing on a team of undercover operatives to see how hard it is just to get an appointment with a doctor. More »
Home Depot is taking legal heat for possibly violating the Buy American Act of 1933, which requires that materials used to build public construction products come from the U.S. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the company due to accusations that it purchases products from China and other foreign countries, and offers those products to government agencies online. More »
Prosecutors in the case against Lee Farkas, who was convicted of leading a $2.9 billion scheme that wrecked Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., have asked the judge in the case to sentence Farkas to at least 50-years in prison, adding that the maximum sentence for his crime is 385 years. More »
Recent immigration crackdowns in Georgia have left the agricultural sector with a labor shortage. A big one. An unscientific poll puts the gap as high as 11,000 workers, but plants still have to be harvested. The governor responded to farmers' complaints with a new program that puts people on probation to work in the fields at minimum wage, with bonuses for high production. This seems like an ideal match: probationers have a higher unemployment rate than the general population, and farmers need people in the fields. It turns out, though, that hard work, hot weather, low pay, and inexperienced workers don't make for a very bountiful harvest. More »
A food blogger in Taiwan has been sentenced to jail for 30 days and ordered to pay around $7,000 in damages after a judge ruled that her comments about the saltiness of a restaurant's food were made without doing due diligence. More »
The Consumer Product Safety Commission's public database, SaferProducts.gov, which allows people to report unsafe products and search recalls and safety reports, has only been around since March. And already the House Appropriations Committee has moved to cut funding for the project. More »
In 2007, the state of Vermont passed a law forbidding the data mining of prescription drug records (i.e., which drugs are being prescribed and how frequently) for marketing purposes. But earlier today, the Supreme Court ruled that the Vermont law interferes with drug makers' right to free speech. More »
After years in court, the determined twin Harvard classmates of Facebook CEO/president Mark Zuckerberg who claim he stole their idea for Facebook have finally given up their legal challenge to their $65 million 2008 settlement. More »
In contrast to the ubiquity of corporate-named stadiums in the NFL, the vast majority of college football stadiums have stuck with their traditional names. The dominoes may be starting to fall, though, after Rutgers sold the Rutgers Stadium naming rights to High Point Solutions for a reported $6.5 million over 10 years. More »
Staples stores in Canada have some explaining to do after a government audit found evidence that the office supply chain was violating Canadian privacy law by selling used computers and storage drives that still contained data belonging to the previous owner. More »
A study by a California judge and his law clerk, a law professor suggests that the state should do away with the death penalty in order to save money. The state has spent $4 billion on capital punishment since 1978, but has only executed 13 convicts in that span. And costs are projected to increase to $9 billion by 2030. More »
According to a ruling by a federal judge, a man was legally protected when he copied and pasted an entire Las Vegas Review-Journal article, including a headline, onto another site. The judge said the man wouldn't have to pay a Copyright Act fine because the newspaper couldn't prove that the article's re-posting reduced the amount of readers who would read the original article. More »
A Burlington, Vt. man who was arrested for starting a community garden on public property without proper permission won't face further legal troubles, thanks to a district attorney who dropped the charges. More »
A California father is in jail and faces charges after the IRS deposited $110,000 in his account that should have gone to another taxpayer, reports KCAL. More »
If you absolutely, positively cannot make it to the restroom when in public, do your city a favor and aim at most anything other than its water reservoir. A man who confessed to disobeying such common sense has caused government coffers to leak nearly $33,000 to rectify the contamination. More »
Almost a year ago, as school boards across the country began to ponder whether or not to keep chocolate milk on students' lunch menus, we asked readers for their opinions, and 75% of you said that the milky, chocolatey childhood fave should continue to be offered, at least part of the time. The folks at the Los Angeles Unified School District disagree, voting yesterday to take away chocolate milk and other goodies from students at the second largest school district in the nation. More »
In a pair of rulings by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week, judges sided with students who contended in separate cases that they were unfairly punished for publishing fake MySpace profiles of their principals. But the victories may be construed as defeats for student free speech, because judges' opinions held that students can be punished for speech made off-campus and online if it is deemed to "materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school." Neither of the cases ruled on earlier this week met that standard. More »
Wisconsin's state labor activists suffered a major setback Tuesday. The Wisconsin state Supreme Court overruled a county judge and reinstated a law that strips tens of thousands of public workers of most of their collective bargaining. More »
Earlier today, the Food and Drug Administration announced new labeling guidlines for sunscreen in an effort to make it clear to consumers which products offer the best chance of keeping your skin from turning into shoe leather. More »
A family was helicoptered to the hospital with severe burns after a tropical dessert ended in tragedy. The waiter poured the 151 proof rum over the plate of bananas Foster, a treat consisting of bananas sauteed in butter and soaked in alcohol and often served over ice cream, and then lit it. The liquid fire then spilled onto several members of the family, leaving one woman's body covered in flames as her dress caught fire. More »
When an owner of an Alabama brewery lost 40 beer kegs in a heist, he took it upon himself to track down the culprits and the containers. Now comes the difficult part: Waiting for the legal system to get off its duff and allow him to reclaim the property he claims is his. More »
The Federal Reserve is mulling over some new rules for 35 of the nation's biggest banks, including one that would require them to submit their annual capital plans for review. And they want to hear from you! More »
The owners of a strip club in New York state have spent the last half decade arguing that they do not owe $125,000 in sales tax on cover charges and lap dances because the dirty dances fall under the tax exempt category of "dramatic or musical art performance." Alas, the NY State Supreme Court Appellate Division disagrees. More »
Last spring, the internet was lit up with reports that Pampers Dry Max diapers cause rashes, burns, sores, and boils on the babies who wear them. And though at least one study could find no link between the nappies and the babies' blemishes, Pampers parent company Procter & Gamble has agreed to settle a class-action suit involving the product. More »
Although the state of Washington is known to be fairly lenient to marijuana users, and especially those who use the drug for medical purposes, smokers in the state still put themselves at some risk. The state Supreme Court ruled that employers may fire workers who take medical marijuana, even if they only use the drug at home and don't show ill effects from it on the job. More »
It's a good thing for the internet that Tennessee lawmakers are around to learn it how to behave. After lawmakers threw down a regulation barring people from sharing passwords for services such as Netflix, the state made famous by Arrested Development (the band, not the show) has created a law that bans the posting of images that cause emotional distress. More »
At yesterday's White House Personal Finance Online Summit, Elizabeth Warren, Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, went into details about the still-nascent agency's "Know Before You Owe" project and how the CFPB is working to simplify the documents that consumers are shown when shopping for a mortgage. More »
Gyms are notorious for not letting people get out of their membership contract and making it difficult to cancel. Now a settlement has been proposed in the class action lawsuit against LA Fitness for making customers pay a fee to end their contracts before the contract term was up. More »
The Senate narrowly voted earlier today to defeat a measure to delay new rules that significantly decrease swipe fees, the amount of money banks charge retailers every time a debit card is used. More »
It's been 122 years since Johnstown, PA, was nearly wiped off the face of the planet by a flood that killed more than 2,000 people. And it's been 75 years since even more damage was done to the down by the St. Patrick's Day flood of 1936, spurring the commonwealth to enact a tax on alcohol sales to help rebuild the town. Luckily, that tax was only needed for a few years, so it's obviously long since been repealed... right? More »
Last August we told you how you could get ten bucks in an Eclipse gum class action settlement over how they claimed to kill germs, and reader Tom writes in to say he just got his Hamilton in the mail. Cash money in the bank! More »
A Michigan camp site that was officially shut down in 2009 has been revived, apparently due to the work of a Robin Hood-like camping enthusiast who has done a bunch of work for free. Officials from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources are not amused, and are hoping to identify the person responsible. More »
Remember how the world didn't end on May 21? Unfortunately for the loved ones of one woman who passed away May 2, in addition to the loss of a family member, they also found out she'd left most of her estate to Family Radio, the group driving those Doomsday buses around and predicting The Rapture. More »
Florida has passed legislation that would force welfare recipients to undergo drug tests before they're able to receive aid. The law, set to go into effect July 1, would make applicants to the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program pay for the tests upfront, but ensures they will be reimbursed if they pass. More »
With hopes of collecting possibly $1 billion a year in sales taxes, the California State Assembly approved a bill that would require buyers to pay taxes on Amazon and other online purchases. More »
An online gaming disagreement turned into a nightmare for a gamer who refused to do the bidding of a person he spoke to over Xbox Live. The victim alleges a rival somehow discovered his name, address and phone number, then falsely reported a murder-suicide at his home, causing a SWAT team to descend on his home. More »
A copyright lawsuit against CBS Interactive, the parent company of CNET, claims the company helped others infringe on copyrights by promoting and profiting on LimeWire downloads via Download.com in 2008. But when asked to provide a list of songs and movies that CNET allegedly helped others pirate, the plaintiffs came up with only six obscure titles: one movie (2007's Fish Tales) and five songs which don't yet have U.S. copyright registration. More »
If you've ever let a friend or family member know your password for subscription services like Netflix or Rhapsody so they can watch a movie or listen to a song, we hope you don't live in Tennessee, where state legislators have passed a bill making it a crime. More »
According to a ruling by a federal judge, Ralph Lauren Polo has more of a right to an image of a man playing polo than the organization that represents the sport. More »
After a police investigation, the mystery of where fifty of the city of Pittsburgh's metal trash cans ran off to has been solved. The culprit wasn't who Consumerist readers suspected. The cans were installed through a partnership with Lamar Advertising, and the man arrested for trying to recycle them just happens to work for Lamar. More »
On May 21, hackers breached the defenses of aerospace/defense/security mega-contractor Lockheed Martin, causing cyber detectives to converge at the company's Washington, D.C.-area headquarters. The experts have yet to track down the origins of the attack, but insist they didn't make off with any sensitive information. More »
Two new bills could make it easier for businesses that sell medical marijuana to stay in the green, er, black. Under the Small Business Banking improvement Act, accredited marijuana dispensaries would be able to apply for bank loans, and the Small Business Tax Equity Act would allow them to deduct business expenses when filing their taxes. More »
The Federal Trade Commission has announced plans to update its "Dot Com Disclosures," the guidelines it uses to tell businesses how federal advertising laws apply to the internet. The document was originally published in 2000, and the FTC admits that the "online world has changed dramatically" since then. More »
An ATM repairman who is suspected of trafficking in counterfeit money stands accused of using ATMs as, well, ATMs for his criminal purposes. Authorities say the man swapped out $200,000 of genuine cash in exchange for his faux green. More »
As state budgets get slimmer by the year, school systems suffering devastating cuts — a collective $17 billion nationwide in the past two fiscal years, partially counteracted by stimulus funds — are passing their costs on to students. More »
The Walt Disney Company has dropped its efforts to trademark the term SEAL Team 6. The Navy had objected to Disney's plans to market products based on the name of the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, and filed its own trademark claims to block Disney. More »
Transportation Security Administration workers have some unlikely allies in their struggle to organize: A pair of pro football players. Noting the need for labor solidarity across industries, one current and one retired Washington Redskin are speaking out in favor of the much-maligned airport security workers. More »
There is a time and place to pull out a sword when you are threatened, and that's when you are He-Man and Skeletor unleashes an attack on Castle Grayskull. On the other hand, if you happen to, say, be inside a Louisville Pizza Hut and get in a heated argument, just keep that sword in its sheath. And ask yourself why you felt the need to bring it to the restaurant in the first place. More »
Gift cards with just a few bucks left on them are nagging annoyances. Oregon's state house is fed up with the glorified plastic coupons and passed a bill that would require businesses to let customers exchange them for cash. More »
Back in 2009, the city of Pittsburgh paid $250,000 for 250 elegant iron trash cans weighing more than 200 pounds each. Critics of the mayor called it a waste of city funds at the time, but they are very nice-looking. Now 20% of them are missing, and it took police and the public works department four months to figure out where they've gone. They were hauled off and sold for scrap. Update: Theft Of Pittsburgh's Iron Trash Cans Allegedly An Inside JobMore »
Despite objections from businesses, the Securities and Exchange Commission has passed a new rule that will allow whistleblowers to get up to 30% of any money the SEC recovers based on their tips. The rule also exempts whistleblowers from having to reveal their findings to the companies they're reporting before going to the government. More »
A showdown is in the works over an anti-patdown law, which the Texas House of Representatives recently approved by a unanimous vote. The government warns that passage of the law could cause the TSA to "cancel any flight" where it couldn't ensure passenger safety. Texas legislators say the rule is needed because existing laws "let government employees fondle innocent women, children and men." More »
The U.S. Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency have rolled out the biggest redesign of the car window stickers that display a vehicle's estimated fuel efficiency since the labels were introduced. The new stickers, designed to be easier to read and to provide more information about fuel savings and costs, will be required for all 2013 cars. More »
If you've been cooking pork chops until they're dry and leathery in the name of safety, stop now! The U.S. Department of Agriculture has revised its pork-cooking guidelines, saying it's OK to cook the other white meat to 145 degrees, and that the previous 160 degree recommendation was "probably overkill." More »
Neighborly disputes are universal, even for high-powered Hollywood writer-directors. Quentin Tarantino and True Blood maestro Alan Ball got into a tiff involving Ball's allegedly loud exotic birds. Tarantino said the birds' "blood-curdling screams" impeded his ability to work at home, and Ball promised to build a sound-proof aviary and keep the birds inside until construction was finished. Apparently, at some point after the agreement, the birds were still repeatedly left outside for several hours, and Tarantino sued. More »
The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering a proposal that would pay out rewards to employees who turn in their companies for wrongdoing, and businesses aren't so happy about having bounties placed on their heads. More »
At a hearing held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today, the committee's GOP leadership debated Elizabeth Warren, the White House's pick to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As the committee argued that new regulations are required to keep the watchdog agency from having "unchecked discretion" over financial matters, Warren responded that such efforts serve to "undermine the consumer bureau before it even begins its work of protecting American families." More »
A judge has given the thumbs down to a proposed settlement in the class-action lawsuit against DirectBuy over its pricing practices. The settlement would have been free memberships to DirectBuy, worth $3,000, to around 800,000 class members. In other words, they were getting sued for being a bad deal and having a problem with their prices, and their make-good is a free pass so you can come in and keep paying those same prices. More »
New York City, a pioneer at smoking bans in restaurants, bars and workplaces, has extended its policies to the outside world, with a new law that makes smoking in city parks, beaches or public plazas a crime punishable by a $50 fine. More »
How's this for a bad deal? American Express Publishing Corp. had an offer for a "free" airline ticket when you bought a companion ticket and a subscription to Skyguide magazine. But a lawsuit brought by five Californian counties says that when consumers went to the website to buy their ticket, they were often charged double what the ticket would have cost them if they bought the ticket straight from the airline. Get it? More »
Those who dream of constructing giant towers filled with gold and silver coins in which to swim, and doing so with the knowledge that their coins are as good as cash, may want to look at moving to Utah. The state has pushed through legislation that makes gold and silver coins legal currency. More »
The FTC is in charge of keeping an eye on spurious claims from TV product ads — so ABC News sat down with FTC Chairman and friend-of-the-blog Jon Leibowtiz to discuss what manufacturers are, and are not, allowed to claim in their ads, as well as the hurdles the FTC faces in enforcing truth-in-advertising rules. Case in point, Oreck recently settled with the FTC over a vacuum that claimed to prevent the flu.More »
The parents of a teen who died after drinking two Four Lokos and running onto a highway have sued the beverage maker, reports the Chicago Tribune. The lawsuit claims the manufacturer was "careless and negligent" in making a caffeinated alcoholic drink that "desensitizes users to the symptoms of intoxication and increases the potential for alcohol-related harm." More »
A recent study found that a record number of people (around 28%) with 401(k) retirement funds had loans (averaging $7,860) outstanding on them in 2010, meaning that these same folks will not have as much money set aside when it does come time to retire. That's why a pair of Senators have introduced legislation that would make it more difficult for people to tap their 401(k)s. More »
If anti-piracy California legislation becomes law, authorities will be able to enter facilities suspected of pirating movie and music discs and seize equipment without first receiving warrants. More »
Most states have turned to privately-owned prisons in order to cut savings, but a report says that the prisons offer little savings to state governments, and in some cases end up costing taxpayers more than traditional systems. More »
Last month, the Federal Communications Commission voted to enact new rules that require national wireless broadband providers like Verizon and AT&T to provide data roaming to other carriers "on commercially reasonable terms and conditions." Not surprisingly, Big Red is against this idea and has thus filed a lawsuit against the FCC in an attempt to have the rules reversed. More »
For several years, prescription diabetes medicine Avandia has been at the center of a debate about whether the medication's heart attack risk was high enough to pull it from pharmacies. Now, nearly eight months after the FDA announced it would be introducing strict restrictions on its sale and use, the agency has finally gotten around to announcing the specifics of those restrictions. More »
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against Starbucks, alleging that the coffee chain violated federal law when it fired a barista-in-training who is a dwarf. More »
From 2005 through 2007, the state of California made a pretty tempting offer to get drivers behind the wheels of hybrid cars: Buy one and you'll get a sticker that allows you to cruise in the carpool lane without having to have that annoying other passenger (or mannequin) next to you. It was like a VIP pass on the highway. But those halcyon days are about to end. More »
A Connecticut man was convicted of tricking investors out of $30 million in a Ponzi scheme that involved a total of $100 million in cash exchanged in an elaborate ruse was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Once he gets out, he'll have to pay $500 a month in restitution, although the actual figure will be based on what he can afford. More »
After a couple early victories in court by players, the NFL has had its way in recent rulings involving its labor dispute. On Monday the league won a permanent stay of an injunction that forced the league to temporarily end its lockout. More »
Just when you think the beleaguered bankers of the world can finally stop dealing with pesky investigations into their roles in the recent financial ugliness (some would call it a global economic meltdown), some Columbo-like snoop has to say, "Just one more thing" and open up all new cans of worms. The latest can-opener is New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has reportedly begun a broad investigation of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. More »
Last week, FCC commissioner Meredith Atwell Baker raised a lot of eyebrows when — only months after voting to approve the controversial merger of Comcast and NBC — she announced she would be jumping ship to become Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, NBCUniversal. The lame duck commissioner recently released a statement to defend herself against allegations of impropriety. More »
According to a potential class action suit filed by a San Diego mom, kiddie-themed pizza chain Chuck E. Cheese's is a gambling parlor disguised as a venue for innocent entertainment. More »
Some frisky deer in Maryland now have the opportunity to get it on without concern of possible parenthood, thanks to a state directive to provide contraception to the animals in order to keep the population under control. More »
According to a Federal Trade Commission complaint lodged against online storage service Dropbox, users were told they had more security than they actually did. More »
The Federal Trade Commission is not about to let anyone, even Disney, get all up in the U.S. Child Online Privacy Protection Act's business without paying dearly for it. Playdom, a social games studio owned by Disney, is in trouble to the tune of $3 million for collecting kids ages and email addresses without requiring parental consent. More »
As we reported in March, a handful of Texas politicians were fed up with being felt-up and were considering a way to ban the TSA's invasive pat-down procedures. Last night, that ban got closer to reality — or at least closer to becoming a courtroom battle — when the Lone Star State's House of Representatives voted to approve legislation that would keep hands off travelers' most personal areas. More »
After the Fiesta Bowl revealed it had misspent funds, buying extravagant, bribe-like gifts for power brokers — including strip club outings — and coercing illegal campaign contributions from staffers, Bowl Championship Series officials rattled their sabers. But despite vague threats to possibly strip the Arizona-based bowl game of its lofty BCS status, the organization has let the bowl off the hook with a stern lecture and an non-punishing punishment. More »
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller has come up with a new tactic to push companies like Sony to disclose hack attacks and data security breaches more promptly: He's asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to require companies to treat attacks as time-sensitive information that must be provided to investors. More »
Even though Exxon Mobil alone earned more than $30 billion in profit in 2010 — and has reported a huge 69% increase in profit in the first quarter of 2011 — that company's CEO was one of several oil biz execs trying to convince the Senate Finance Committee that they still need $21 billion in tax breaks. More »
Maryland's Higher Education Commission faces a lawsuit brought by a civil rights advocacy group that alleges the state's treatment of its traditionally black institutions promote segregation and unfair education opportunities. More »
An Obama administration plan calls for the 14 largest mortgage companies to contribute to a federal fund that would help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosures. More »
Deciding it had been a bit too generous when dishing out disaster aid, FEMA is going around asking for refunds of mistaken payments. Letters demanding repayment within 30 days are coming as a shock to disaster victims who say they needed the money to get back on track and no longer have it. More »
The Justice Department has managed to nail a hedge fund billionaire believed to be one of the many driving forces behind the financial crisis. The billionaire, the founder of the defunct hedge fund management firm Galleon Group, was convicted on 14 counts of fraud and conspiracy. More »
Preparing to settle a Department of Justice investigation of "use of Google advertising by certain advertisers," Google has set aside $500 million to make the investigation go away. More »
Political activists who use company trademarks to protest business practices often face lawsuits from offended organizations, but a ruling by a federal judge in Utah may stifle such suits because they violate First Amendment rights. More »
Google wants its self-driving cars to prowl Nevada streets, so it's lobbying the state's lawmakers to make its cars legal, and also give them exemptions from a distracted driver law that forbids text messaging while at the wheel. More »
For anyone considering getting rid of their second mortgage in the manner described in yesterday's post, bear in mind that it is by no means a painless process. One of our readers is a staff attorney for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee, and he writes in with more details about what this process entails. More »
These three women put on a clinic of how not to shoplift from a liquor aisle. Spurning the tradition of trenchcoats or other types of baggy clothing, they manage to slip bottles of liquor underneath their skirts. They're not as sneaky as they think they are because the store's security camera captures them in mesmerizing action. More »
Hopefully 23,000 users who allegedly illegally downloaded The Expendables really, really enjoyed the movie, because now they'll be paying for it with fear and loathing brought on by a lawsuit, as well as possibly tons of money. More »
Most of us have trouble scratching a simple customer service call off our to-do list, but The Red Tape Chronicles profiles a college kid who has turned taking companies to small claims court into a bit of a hobby. And he's won 10 out of 12 times. More »
Over the weekend, TSA agents at the Kansas City International Airport felt the full furor of the internet when a camera phone image of a baby being patted-down hit the web. The world wanted to know if we'd moved from worrying about dirty bombs to hunting for poopy bombs. In an attempt to diffuse the explosive situation, the folks behind the curtains of Security Theater took to their blog to offer an explanation. More »
In the city of Boston, where most residents only have access to Comcast service, the price of basic cable has soared 60% over the last three years. So the city's mayor, Thomas Menino, has asked the Federal Communications Commission to let the city regulate the cost of cable. More »
A Minnesota judge weighed a touchy healthcare issue in a defamation lawsuit, deciding whether or not a doctor's right to protect his reputation outweighs the family of a patient's intentions to publicize their grievances against the doc. The District Court judge sided with the family, tossing out the doctor's defamation lawsuit. More »
Apparently the only way for a terrorist to plant a bomb on any of the thousands and thousands miles of completely unsecured railroad track in this country is to actually be a passenger on a train — specifically an Amtrak train. Thus, Senator Chuck Schumer of NY has figured out a way to keep our entire rail system safe: A "no-ride list." More »
You might have heard that some airline passengers haven't exactly been overjoyed with the TSA's recent rollouts of revealing full-body scanners and like-groping-teenagers-in-heat pat-down procedures. But now the agency is reportedly considering the idea of giving "trusted travelers" an express pass through airport security screenings. More »
Following their colleagues in the House, who earlier this week offered legislation that would weaken the powers of the planned Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, nearly all Republican Senators have sent a letter to President Obama vowing to block the confirmation of any nominee to head the new agency, unless there are "structural changes that will make the Bureau accountable to the American people." More »
Under Texas law, wrongfully convicted criminals are entitled to $80,000 for each year of mistaken incarceration. But a man who was locked away for 18 years after he was convicted of capital murder, and was released when a state court dropped the charges, is being stiffed. More »
A lawsuit led by rap artists alleges CBS Interactive, the parent company of CNET, aided copyright infringement by promoting and profiting on downloads of file-sharing service LimeWire. More »
As far as the justice system is concerned, EA Sports is allowed to continue using rough approximations of player likenesses in its college sports games. More »
Because antitrust investigators at the Justice Department made such quick work of their investigations into the United/Continental and NBC/Universal mergers, they apparently have plenty of free time to wonder why there are no playoffs in the Bowl Championship Series. More »
As we reported yesterday, a House of Representatives subcommittee was set to review various proposed bills that would effectively disarm the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before it even had a chance to do any protecting of consumers. Sadly, but not surprisingly, all three bits of proposed legislation have been approved. More »
If you've ever wanted to find out if you live in a wasteland with a dearth of access to fresh and nutritious food, boy have we got the government-sponsored data mashup for you! The USDA just launched the "Food Desert Locator" which lets you see where it's hard to get a decent bite to eat in America. A "food desert" (remember: not dessert, that has two s's because you want more of it) is a low-income area where a most of the people live more than one mile from the nearest grocery store/supermarket. Thanks to this map, now we know why North Dakotans are so sad: no one will make them a sandwich! More »
In February, a woman says she took her husband to a strip club in Maryland to celebrate. But when they got to the door, they were told that she would have to pay double her husband's $10 cover charge. Now that woman has slapped the bar with a $200,000 discrimination suit. More »
In a ruling that's sure to scuttle the urges of would-be whistleblowers who seek to expose wrongdoing by employers, an appeals court has allowed Boeing to fire two employees who leaked documents to the press that made the company look bad. More »
In a decision that could have long-term implications for cybercrime prosecution, a U.S. District judge ruled that IP addresses do not directly represent people, and thus aren't fair criteria for copyright holders to subpoena individuals. More »
According to a recently filed lawsuit, a big rental chain installs physical hardware and software into its rented computers, capturing the keystrokes, screenshots, and even webcam images of unsuspecting customers. The only way to disable it is by waving an electronic "wand" over the device. The spyware was revealed when a store manager for the chain showed up at renter's house to try to repossess the laptop and showed the renter a picture of him taken by the webcam, unbeknownst to him, by the leased laptop. More »
Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi - the guy who famously referred to Goldman Sachs as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money" - has an interesting expose of how the wives of two Morgan Stanley hot shots, though they had no previous financial experience, set up their own investing initiative and got $220 million in bailout funds. More »
The still nascent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is already on its way to becoming the latest victim in Washington's efforts to make sure American consumers have their voice taken away. Tomorrow, the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit is scheduled to consider a number of bills that, if passed, would undermine the CFPB's ability to protect consumers. More »
Planning to save $1 billion over the next decade by eliminating the costs of printing, handling and sending paper checks, the U.S. Department of the Treasury will require all new Social Security applicants to set up direct deposit. Those who have always received Social Security checks will be able to continue doing so until March 2013, when the organization will eliminate paper checks entirely. More »
Internet hoaxes are capable of tricking not only your grandma, but also the Los Angeles Police Department. An 8-year-old yarn about terrorists — dressed as UPS workers thanks to uniforms bought on eBay — who could deliver explosives disguised as packages spurred the force to send out an alert to residents. An unidentified state law enforcement agency passed the info to the police department. More »
Yesterday we wrote about the proposed guidelines put forth by a federal interagency working group regarding the marketing of food to children. The "principles" asked for food companies to market products with healthier ingredients and gave suggested limits on things like fat and sodium. The ad industry is less-than-pleased by the news. More »
Last September's first-ever National Take-Back Day, in which the DEA and other law enforcement agencies operate stations for people with old prescription drugs to dispose of them safely, was apparently enough of a success that the agency decided to not even wait a full year to try it again. That's right, it's time to bust out your National Take-Back Day decorations, along with your old Vicodin, Oxycontin and Cipro! More »
An devastated former Miss USA crown holder fights back tears as she describes an overly touchy-feely pat-down by a TSA agent at the Dallas airport. She says she feels "molested" because the female agent touched her vagina four times. More »
Earlier today, an interagency working group consisting of folks from the Federal Trade Commission, Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, and the Dept. of Agriculture, issued a set of "proposed voluntary principles" it hopes the food industry will ultimately adopt in its marketing to the youth of America. More »
Just in case you were wondering, it's not cool to paw at a waitress and slide a credit card in her bra. Such actions are what a Washington Redskins lineman stands accused of, according to court papers filed Wednesday. More »
After the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings that left 32 dead, the U.S. Department of Education fined the school $55,000 in March for failing to notify students and campus personnel about the danger in a timely manner. More »
Benjamin Moore's Natura paint is billed as an eco-friendly, odorless paint with no volatile organic compounds that doesn't stink up your house while it dries. Some consumers love it, and some don't. Bu some consumers really don't like it, and one woman has initiated a class-action suit claiming that Natura wouldn't dry and stunk up her house so badly that she couldn't stay in her home. More »
In a huge blow to peeved consumers, the Supreme Court ruled earlier today that companies can block customers from joining together in a class-action suit by forcing each complaint into arbitration. More »
Last summer, the California Attorney General filed a $34 million lawsuit against daytime TV mainstay "Tax Lady" Roni Deutch, alleging that her firm defrauded customers out of millions each year. Now, the AG's office has asked that Deutch be thrown in jail for allegedly destroying important documents and for not refunding money to customers. More »
The sidewalks of lower Manhattan, especially Chinatown, are filled with vendors selling genuine faux Louis Vuitton bags "Ugggs" boots and Ronex watches. One city councilwoman from that neighborhood is so fed up of trying to fight the problem from the supply side that she's introducing new legislation that would attempt to curb demand by making it illegal to purchase counterfeit merchandise. More »
Quick — name off every address at which you've resided. Finished? Now let's hear the addresses, phone numbers and names of supervisors at every job you've ever had. And when you're finished with that, cough up your mom's address at wherever she was living a year before you were born. More »
The NFL's ugly labor dispute took a promising turn for fans hoping they don't miss football this year on Monday, when a U.S. District judge ended the owners' lockout. More »
When we hear the word "Pabst" the word "blasted" comes into mind, so it's no surprise that Woodbridge, Ill.-based Pabst Brewing Co. is having some trouble with its new, highly-alcoholic, colorful malt beverage, Blast. More »
Samsung and Apple are now officially entangled in a messy legal slapfight. After Apple sued Samsung for allegedly violating iPhone and iPad patents, Samsung has responded in kind, alleging Apple violated several of its patents. More »
A small Texas computer company won a $5 million district court judgment against Google, which a jury found in violation of a Linux-related patent due to proprietary code for storing and retrieving information that was found in Google software. More »
Someone at the Attorney General's office must have finally looked at how high gasoline prices are right now and thought, "Maybe there's something more than meets the eye here," because President Obama announced earlier today that the AG is gathering his forces to see what, if any, behind-the-scenes shenanigans are going on to keep prices so high. More »
I know all of you have gotten used to checking to see if it was an orange, yellow, or red day according to the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded terror alert system. But now that's all gone, and you can check Facebook or Twitter to see whether or not the world is going to blow up today. More »
Yesterday, it was revealed that Apple iPhones and 3G-enabled iPads have been, unbeknownst to their users, recording their locations with corresponding time stamps in a file named "consolidated.db." This discovery did not please Al Franken, the U.S. Senator from Minnesota, who has fired off a letter to Apple bigwig Steve Jobs. More »
Apparently some restaurants are in the habit of hiring undocumented workers to do grunt work, paying them in cash to avoid taxes. The feds are onto this brazen scheme, and put the smackdown on two owners of a restaurant chain based in Arizona and California, as well as their accountant. More »
Putting an end to a two-year dispute between GameFly and the U.S. Postal Service, the Postal Regulatory Commission ruled the USPS has given services such as Netflix and Blockbuster preferential treatment over its own discs. More »
Although the government brought the wrath of Olympus down upon law-averting offshore online poker palaces, it's showing compassion for customers who had money locked up in gambling accounts. Authorities re-activated two previously closed domain names, allowing players to request refunds. More »
TiVo and Dish Network are locked up in a never-ending lawsuit over the satellite provider's alleged violation of TiVo's DVR patents, and a U.S. Federal Court of Appeals ruling Wednesday only served to muddle the picture. More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration can't seem to catch a break. Last week, the federal agency came under fire by the Government Accountability Office for its 510(k) program, which expedites approvals of new medical devices without requiring extensive clinical studies. More »
It's sort of sad that the Department of Transportation actually had to force airlines to refund bag fees if they lose your baggage — but whatever, let's not dwell. More »
Note to flyers: If you've got a beef with flight attendants, try not to cuss them out, because losing your temper could lead to your detention and arrest. More »
The twin former Harvard classmates of Facebook CEO/president Mark Zuckerberg, who contend he stole their idea for the site, refuse to give up their quest to procure more than what they got in a previous settlement. Even after a U.S. appeals court judge denied their argument and pointedly told them to give up the case, the twins' lawyers asked a special 11-judge panel to take a look at their appeal. More »
In the corporate method of waving your hand to tell the teacher the kid at the desk next to you has been peeking at its paper, Apple filed a lawsuit alleging Samsung copied the "look and feel" of its iPad and iPhone. It seems Samsung's Android devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, Epic 4G and Nexus S drew too much inspiration from istuff for Apple's liking. More »
In an effort to develop something of a uniform standard for identifying online users, the White House announced plans for the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). Companies that opt in to guiding the program will aim to allow people to use a single secure verification mechanism to access a number of different services. For example, your ID could potentially allow you access to email, online shopping and social networking sites. More »
If you were planning on making your fortune on your sofa, taking fools' money in online poker, it's probably time to think of a plan B. Feds are making like Eliot Ness in an effort to shut down offshore companies that let Americans subvert in the nation's online gambling laws. G-men have filed an indictment against several individuals accused of operating illegal internet poker speakeasies. More »
Following a rash of incidents — like this one and this one — where air traffic controllers were caught snoozing on the job, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued some new rules that will hopefully give the controllers more rest and more supervision. More »
If you've waited until the last possible moment to do your taxes, there's probably a better chance that you'll rush through the process and make an error. An error you'll only realize you've made just after you've clicked on the e-file button or after the mailman has spirited your return off to Mount Doom. More »
According to researchers, suicide rates rise when investments tank and the job market becomes less forgiving, especially among those in the post-college, pre-retirement age range. More »
A University of Kansas ticket official and her husband were convicted of aiding a $2 million illegal ticket ring in which they admitting to stealing and selling basketball and football tickets. More »
Here's a series of really nice-looking maps Datapointed made to visualize the 2000-2010 US Census data released this year. The bluer an area, the more people it gained. The redder an area, the more it lost. In the series of maps across America you'll see urban centers surrounded by a blossom of red, ringed by a halo of blue. It's the classic "flight to the suburbs" playing out. But one interesting development is the core of cobalt at the heart of these cities where downtown addresses have become in-demand again. Even beleaguered Detroit, as seen in this graph, is showing glimmers of a comeback in its most central neighbs. More »
For decades, Sears has been using the trademarked brand name "DieHard" on its car batteries and auto parts. Now the retail relic has filed a trademark infringement suit against a company that makes a sexual enhancement spray under the same name. More »
Usually the way off the Endangered Species List does not head through legislators, but Congress let the Rocky Mountain wolf off the list, angering environmentalists who believe the reclassification was inappropriate. More »
A ruling by a federal judge clears the way for kids to wear clothing that expresses their love of "boobies" without school administrators forcing them to remove it. More »
The Air Traffic Controller Sleeping Epidemic of 2011 continues. Yet another worker responsible for keeping planes from crashing into one another has fallen asleep on the job, with the FAA investigating yet again. More »
Earlier today, Federal Trade Commission chairman Jon Leibowitz visited the Consumer Reports compound in Yonkers, NY. While there, Consumerist's Executive Editor Meghann Marco managed to score a sit-down interview with him. More »
The main reason that JPMorgan Chase and other big banks have given for things like $5 ATM fees and prohibitive caps on debit card purchases is a soon-to-be-enacted bit of legislation known as the Durbin Amendment, which limits the amount of money banks can make off of interchange fees, the amount they charge retailers for each debit card transaction. Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has called the laws "price fixing at its worst" and "downright idiotic." Now Dick Durbin, the Illinois senator whose name graces the legislation, has come out swinging at Dimon, telling the bank exec to quit whining and enjoy being profitable. More »
In spite of legislation requiring banks to disclose all fees associated with consumer deposit accounts, a new study from the Public Interest Research Group shows that only around four out of 10 bank branches don't make it difficult or impossible for consumers to see the full schedule of fees.Additionally, banks are reluctant to let customers know about the availability of free checking accounts. More »
Senators John Kerry and John McCain introduced an Internet privacy bill that would require companies to clearly spell out the types of data collected from consumers online, how it's used and require corporate safeguards from hackers and other criminals. More »
Being that Texas is a giant state with wide expanses of dull spaces, you can't blame people for wanting to rush through it faster. Lawmakers are considering upping the speed limit to 85 miles per hour on some stretches of highway. Currently, Texas has 500 miles of roads with a speed limit of 80. More »
In what newscasters describe as a "classic Chicago shakedown" during the making of the movie Source Code last year, a Chicago transit employee who negotiated a $19,000 contract for use of the train system reportedly demanded filmmakers deliver $2,000 in an envelope to him or another employee as a tribute to his effort. When he learned the money wouldn't be delivered, he told a whistle-blower she'd never be able to work with Chicago's Metra again. More »
The company behind MagicJack, the $40 USB device that "makes monthly phone bills disappear" for consumers, is about see something else go up in smoke: Its own revenues. More »
A judge in Texas has sided with the Lone Star State's insurance commissioner, upholding an order for State Farm Insurance to pay out $350 million to over one million overcharged customers. More »
Citing health factors, some Chicago schools have stopped allowing kids to bring lunches and some snacks from home unless they have medical orders that bar them from eating in the cafeteria. More »
Sony's Itchy and Scratchy-esque tangle with an alleged hacker and his supporters has finally reached its apparent end. The parties agreed to an out-of-court settlement with an injunction that bans the man who took credit for jailbreaking the PlayStation 3 from distributing the offending code. More »
Everything's bigger in Texas. Even data breaches. As many as 3.5 million residents of the state found their personal data has been set free in a gaffe by the state government. More »
An epilogue to the film The Social Network took place in a U.S. appeals court, with twin Harvard classmates of Facebook CEO/president Mark Zuckerberg — who accused him of ripping them off — being forced to stick with their 2008 settlement of $65 million. More »
If you've ever turned on a TV, you've seen those dudes singing about getting your credit score and making it seem like a good thing to do. Which it is, really, important to know that kind of thing. But a a new lawsuit filed against Experian, a super huge credit bureau, says that the company is intentionally misleading consumers about their scores. More »
Johnson & Johnson may have been eliminated from the Worst Company In America tournament, but the company's craptastic year continues, as J&J has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Dept. of Justice over allegations that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by illegally bribing doctors in Europe and paying kickbacks to Iraq... At least it wasn't another product recall. More »
Chase has pledged to reinstate debit card rewards programs if the cap on fees it collects from merchants per debit transaction, scheduled to go into effect July 21st, is delayed. More »
The second air traffic controller in a month could lose his job for catching some z's up in the tower. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt told Congress that the controller was "found intentionally sleeping." What defines "intentional sleeping?" He had cushions and a blanket, meaning he brought materials to work with him to help him sleep. More »
Oh, silly BP! Of course you want to be fined by the day and not by the millions and millions of gallons of oil you spilled into the Gulf of Mexico! The big bad oil guys have asked the U.S. government to levy their fines for the April 20, 2010 oil spilled based on the days the Deepwater Horizon rig spewed black stuff into the water, not how many barrels of crude oil it gushed. More »
Someday kids in Lakewood, Colo. will become crotchety old men who complain about how kids have it easy, saying "Why, in my day, police used to come and pepper spray second graders if they got out of line." More »
A woman who used to work for Vince Shlomi, the pitchman made famous in ads for the ShamWow and the SlapChop, has sued him, accusing him of civil battery and causing emotional distress, claiming he wanted her as his "love slave." More »
When you receive a parking or traffic ticket, don't forget about it. In this time of widespread budget crisis at all levels of government, they're apparently not messing around. Brent received a ticket from a California Highway Patrol officer for not changing the address on his driver's license. He made the change, but forgot to send the ticket back. In just a few months, his $25 fine somehow turned into a $911 fine. Wait, what? More »
Pandora and other app makers received subpoenas related to a criminal federal investigation in which prosecutors are looking into claims that smartphone apps violate users' privacy by illegally collecting and transmitting info. More »
No matter how tough things may be for out-of-work pro football players, it's doubtful they're hard up enough for cash that they have to resort to swiping beer. More »
Sports simulation games take strides to replicate their real-life counterparts, but Madden NFL game publisher EA would rather not be facing a legal dispute that somewhat echoes the NFL's labor troubles. More »
Maybe you won't want to eat that double bacon cheeseburger and large fries if the menu you order it from says its 1,600 calories. At least that's wht the Food and Drug Administration is hoping with their proposal that menus be required to list calorie counts at chain restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, convenience stores and coffee chains. More »
American Apparel, the store perhaps better known for the barely legal, oft-undressed models in its ads, and the peccadilloes of company founder Dov Charney, than for its actual clothing, has alerted the Security and Exchange Commission that it may need to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. More »
Looks like Goldman has been a more frequent visitor to the Federal trough than they've been letting on. Despite testifying before Congress that they had only accessed the Federal Reserve's discount window, which lets banks borrow cash from the government quickly and on favorable terms, just once, Bloomberg reports that recently released data shows they actually took at least five overnight loans from the Fed between September 2008 and 2010. More »
Reacting to a pharmaceutical company's seemingly greedy ploy to jack up a premature birth-preventing drug from $10-$20 to $1,500 after the Food and Drug Administration granted it exclusive rights to produce the drug, the FDA shifted course and will allow specialty pharmacies into the market. More »
Looking to frighten viewers into putting away their bird feeders, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department warns you that bears are looking to romp into your yard and tear into them. More »
The college football bowl system is alleged to be rife with corruption, some of which bubbled to the surface in an Arizona Republic report that identified rampant misuse of funds by Fiesta Bowl officials. More »
A former manager at a nuclear power generating facility in California says he was fired because he brought up safety concerns regarding labor issues at the plant. Now he's suing, claiming emotional distress and retaliation. More »
Tangles between shoplifters and law enforcement often make for entertaining spectacles, but what went down at a Macomb County, Mich. Meijer in February is tough to top. When a 400-pound woman allegedly used a motorized cart to try to cruise away with $600 in stolen items, she got stuck at the door. She then allegedly pushed and punched a security guard, then resisted arrest until an officer subdued her with a Taser. More »
Raise your hand if you're surprised to hear that baby formula is a popular choice of not only shoplifting rings, but drug smugglers who use it to cut heroin and cocaine. Yes, we're shocked, too! More »
A Massachusetts restaurant chain agreed to pay a $110,000 fine to settle a complaint that alleged hackers nabbed customers' credit card and debit card info in 2009. More »
If you've ever wondered why some federal court jurisdictions refused to allow cell phones on the premises, the answer lies partially in the potential threat of your technological doohickies. More »
Michigan's governor signed a bill into law that will cut unemployment benefits by six weeks — bad news for would-be workers in a state that's been marred in 10.4 percent unemployment. More »
In a new study that will surely be argued and dissected by both sides of the full-body scanner debate, researchers claim that the risk from the ionizing radiation to which travelers are exposed in these scanners "would be extremely small, even among frequent flyers" and that there "is no significant threat of radiation from the scans." More »
Walmart is quite competitive this week, not only vying to move on in the Worst Company in America Sweet 16, but battling female employees in a sex discrimination court today in a case before the Supreme Court. More »
Even though an NFL work stoppage is the one thing that keeps the Cleveland Browns from embarrassing themselves, a fan of the team is suing the team and league over its lockout, claiming the league violated his personal seat license contract, which grants him the right to buy tickets. More »
In 2009, U.S. consumers spent at least $2.4 billion in fees for credit card debt protection products that provide them with the ability to suspend or cancel a part of their debt obligations as a result of things like disability and involuntary unemployment. However, a new Government Accountability Office report finds that the credit card companies are making a substantial profit from these fees. More »
Utah's state house took a step toward allowing gold and silver to be accepted as cash, passing a bill that would recognize government-issued gold and silver coins for not only their face value, but the value given to the items by collectors. If the bill passes, the state would study the idea of establishing an alternative form of currency backed by silver and gold. More »
Objecting to what they deem to be cumbersome accommodations for a student with a severe peanut allergy, parents at a Florida public school are urging administrators to remove the girl from the classroom and have her home-schooled. More »
The government proposes new regulation to make an industry safer. The industry shouts back that the new measures are "cumbersome and costly,‟ tantamount to "a confiscation of property." A newspaper opines, "Excited persons rarely accomplish anything...No new laws are needed." Trade groups issue dire warnings about how the new laws will wipe out entire industries and sacrifice jobs. Are these the latest response to new Consumer Product Safety Commission guidelines? Banking giants balking at financial reform? Nope, those were quotes from when fire protection guidelines were proposed after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, in which 146 garment workers died. Friday marks the 100th anniversary of this tragedy. More »
After four senators requested that smartphone software vendors to stop selling apps that allow users to report and find drunk-driving checkpoints, the makers of those applications are defending themselves, saying they actually help police, and not drunkies out on the road. More »
The FDA is reportedly set to announce a decision that would force movie theater operators to post calorie counts next to their items in the same way that restaurant chains must. Not surprisingly, the theater owners are popping mad about this possibility. More »
A Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army went up against a terrifying enemy — the mortgage industry, in the form of PHH Mortgage Corporation — in court and came away victorious after a jury awarded him $21 million for his troubles. More »
A 34-year-old New Hampshire woman who wanted to get her hands on some pain medication allegedly devised a plan that landed her in jail: Ask a 9-year-old boy to swipe his mom's Percocet, and promise to buy him a video game in return. The boy held up his end of the bargain and noticed something was amiss when he saw the woman take the label off the pill bottle. More »
A district court judge told Google its $125 million settlement with authors and publishers is invalid because it's too favorable to the company. The ruling stalls Google's plans to complete a massive digital library and bookstore. More »
Following the news that radiation has been detected in tap water and food products in areas closest to the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, the FDA has announced that many imported food products from prefectures near the plant will not be allowed to enter the U.S. More »
While most of the country don't pay sales tax to online retailers like Amazon, most customers are still supposed to pay those taxes to the state. No one does, of course, which is why the California State Board of Equalization is looking into the prospect of going after residents who have made more than $5,000 in online purchases in the hope of getting paid. More »
Believing the Nook e-readers are ripping it off, Microsoft is suing Barnes & Noble and the manufacturers over the devices, which it says infringe on several patents. More »
While everyone should have their financial and legal affairs in order in case of sudden and untimely death, reader Charlie has to worry about this much too early in his life. He's been told that he has only a few years to live, and wants to begin planning now to make his passing easier on his family and to provide for them. More »
Whether the arena be the Grammys, Oscars or freestyle rap battles, you don't want to face Eminem as an opponent. That's a lesson Universal Music Group learned when it took on the rapper in the Supreme Court, which refused to hear its appeal in a lawsuit over downloadable music. The court's refusal to hear the case, reports the Detroit Free Press, probably means Eminem won between $40 million and $50 million from the publisher. More »
Among the items on recent list of things your health insurer won't tell you was the fact that you shouldn't give up if your insurance claim is initially denied. Now a new report from the Government Accountability Office says that upward of 50% of appealed claims ultimately get paid. More »
Believing it's unjust that he was fined under a New York City ordinance that forbids riding two or three-wheeled vehicles on sidewalks, a unicycler is suing the city for $3 million. More »
Do you know what a photocopier is? Congratulations, you are smarter than the acting head of information technology for the recorder's division of the Cuyahoga County fiscal office. At least that's what this dialog between him and a plaintiff's lawyer, suing over "whether deeds and other records at the county recorder's office...should be readily available at reasonable cost," would lead you to believe. More »
After the Securities and Exchange Commission accused IBM of bribing officials in Asian countries to secure government contracts over an 11-year period, the company agreed to pay a $10 million settlement. More »
In recent years, retailers have been successful in getting a handful of states, including Illinois and New York, to pass laws requiring Amazon.com and similar e-tailers to collect sales tax on products shipped to those states. Now, with the backing of super-sized chains, there is a full-on push to get these laws on the books in every state that collects sales tax. More »
The cost of one man's Las Vegas bachelor party could end up being a lot higher than airfare, hotel and gambling expenses if a Chicago woman gets her way. Claiming breach of promise, she's suing her former fiance for at least $62,814 in wedding expenses after he got caught sowing his wild oats in Sin City. More »
Thanks to loopholes, some insurers are erroneously denying insurance claims for accidental deaths by claiming they're suicides, reports Bloomberg Markets Magazine in a new in-depth investigation. More »
Bills were introduced in both the House and Senate to delay "swipe fee reform" by at least a year and they call for a study of its potential effects. The new rules, scheduled to take effect July 21, would cap the fee banks can charge merchants for processing debit card fees at 12 cents per transaction. More »
Although it's unclear whether the government will actually stop funding National Public Radio and place the public news source in jeopardy of shutting down, the U.S. House of Representatives took a step in that direction Thursday, voting to strip the organization of federal funding and forbidding radio stations from using public grants to pay NPR. More »
Reader PJ sued a bunch of harassing debt collectors and won $5,000, and Google Voice made doing it really easy. Someone had put down his work cellphone number on their credit applications and ran up a bunch of debts and collectors started calling him multiple times per day. He told them he wasn't the guy and asked them nicely to stop, but that only made it worse. More »
In it's all-out legal quest to stomp an alleged hacker who released a PS3 jailbreak, Sony continues to seem to get whatever information it wants via legal channels. After being allowed to collect the IP addresses of anyone who visited the alleged hacker's site, Sony has now been given the go-ahead from a federal magistrate to collect the man's PayPal records. More »
A Manhattan mother has filed a class action suit against her 4-year-old daughter's $19,000 a year Upper East Side preschool for not properly preparing her child for a top-tier university. More »
The Securities and Exchange Commission may file a civil action against former Freddie Mac chief executive as it concludes an investigation of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's disclosure practices. More »
A Minnesota jury decided a blogger must pay $60,000 in damages to a former University of Minnesota employee who was fired after the blogger's posts exposed the former employee's alleged involvement in a mortgage fraud. More »
This 21-year-old was on his way to Wisconsin for his grandmothers funeral when he was handcuffed and held for 90 minutes on a disorderly conduct charge. Why? He opted-out of the "naked scanner" and instead chose the pat-down — at which point he began removing his clothes to expose a message written on his chest in marker. The message, of course, was the 4th amendment. More »
Waiting for slow service at a restaurant can be frustrating, but that's no excuse to go firing off your gun like Yosemite Sam. A frustrated Florida Denny's customer was allegedly irritated past the point of reason when he stepped outside and shot off his gun three times. More »
A Morgan Stanley unit is under investigation by the Justice Department for foreclosing on nearly two dozen military families without a court hearing, a violation of Federal law meant to protect active duty service members. More »
The Justice Department has fined 21 airlines in a massive global price-fixing scheme. British Airways, Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic were among the airlines indicted. Even four executives have gone to jail. What did they do? The JD charges that the airlines colluded to artificially inflate fuel surcharges for passengers industry-wide, as well as cargo surcharges. The case probably wouldn't have been broken if Luthansa and Virgin Atlantic hadn't come forward and confessed under the Justice Department's amnesty program that provides leniency for finking. In an interesting turn, the scheme was so codified that various airlines had entire committees and sub-committees devoted to managing it. More »
Following a slew of recalls that seemed to have pulled just about every Tylenol product from store shelves, three Johnson & Johnson plants responsible for the recalled goods are being put under the supervision of the FDA. More »
Mired in $1 billion of debt, Blockbuster asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to let it auction itself off. After restructuring its plan to better suit creditors who were calling for liquidation, Blockbuster has been granted verbal approval by the court to go ahead and put itself on the market. The judge still has to put his decision in writing to make it official. More »
There has been a lot of talk in recent years about cellphone bill shock and overages and what can be done to stop it. Now comes a new study by a wireless industry trade group that claims consumers are actually saving money because of all these overage. More »
On a Delta flight from France to Atlanta, a belligerent passenger allegedly used karate to unsuccessfully fight off an air marshal who arrested him after he sexually harassed a passenger. More »
After a federal court shut down LimeWire with a permanent injunction last year, the defunct peer-to-peer file sharing service settled its copyright infringement case with the National Music Publishers Association. More »
Even though it's referred to as "paper" money, most of the material used to produce U.S. banknotes is actually cotton. And with raw cotton costs at a 140-year high, it's costing more money to print money. More »
Is it a crime to pay a $1 toll with a $100 bill? The people responsible for counting out change might wish that it were, but paying a toll with legal tender isn't a crime. Toll collectors in Florida allegedly asks motorists for personal information and illegally detained them for paying with bills deemed too large. Even better? Toll takers flagged and detained drivers paying with bills as small as $20 based on racial profiling. More »
They just wouldn't stop calling, and now they have to pay. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling that a debt collection firm will have to pay a former janitor suffering from a head injury $311,000. Quite a turn of events, considering the debt they were hounding him on was only about $3,800. More »
Surrounded by family members of distracted driving victims, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced a new pamphlet designed to highlight the "deadly epidemic" of inattentive driving. Among those joining LaHood in his presentation at Consumers Union was Melissa Dinges, whose sister, Angelina, was walking with two of her friends along a pedestrian walkway just three houses away from her home in California when she was hit from behind by a truck driven by an 18-year-old woman. The driver had been typing a text message before the accident. Angelina's two friends survived, but sadly, she did not. More »
In its ongoing quest to neutralize the alleged hackers who decimated the PS3's security, Sony won the legal right to track down the IP address of anyone who visited a site on which the PS3 jailbreak was posted. More »
Later today, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood will be answering questions at the Consumers Union offices, where he'll also be speaking on the topic of "Distracted Driving Shatters Lives: Helping Parents and Educators Reach Teens." You can watch that event live on the Consumer Reports Facebook page (click the "Live" tab) at 11:00 a.m. ET. Meanwhile, Secretary LaHood accepted Consumerist's request to answer a few reader-submitted questions. More »
While many other global economies — including the European Union — have ditched their low-value paper banknotes in favor of coins, the U.S. continues to churn out dollar notes while $1 coins take a backseat. But a new report by the Government Accountability Office urges the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to give renewed thought to the idea of making dollar bills extinct. More »
As gas prices have continued to rise in recent weeks, the people of Suffolk County in New York must have been so happy they passed a law that would cap sales tax on gas. The regulation was supposed to have kicked in on March 1, but, well... someone goofed. More »
A man who launched 10 trillion spam messages before he was sent away to federal prison is out after serving four years, and he's allowed back online. He promises he's a changed man and will no longer shower your inbox with unwanted solicitations. More »
If it didn't seem fair to you that the NFL would be allowed to collect TV revenue while it locked out players, take heart, because a federal judge felt the same way. More »
A class action lawsuit claims Dell "deceptively designed" its Inspiron laptop series to have "1) inadequate cooling systems, (2) a power supply system that prematurely fails when used as intended, and (3) motherboards that prematurely fail when used as intended." If you had one of these laptops and paid Dell for a repair, you could be eligible for a $150 payout. More »
Online coupon site Groupon.com now finds itself the subject of a lawsuit claiming the expiration dates on its deals violate existing gift card laws regarding expiration dates. More »
According to a federal probe, at least 27 TSA agents in Honolulu took it easy on the job, routinely letting un-screened baggage through on early-morning flights. More »
USPS is in crisis mode, stuck in an unsustainable business model that threatens to run the service into the ground by the end of the fiscal year in October. More »
On Whitehouse.gov today there's a post declaring that the government has a stupidly large amount of real estate that taxpayers are paying to maintain — but that it doesn't really need. More »
If one day strip clubs start to offer patrons mouthguards, or have dancers wear bunny slippers rather than stilettos, you might be able to trace it back to a lawsuit filed in Indiana, in which a man says he got his teeth kicked in by a projectile flung from a high-kicking dancer. More »
The new U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau isn't even up and running yet, and already it seems its funding could be in trouble. Prof. Elizabeth Warren, the champion of the bureau, is trying to protect her project in the face of a conservative House majority. More »
Citing stoplights that run on sensors incapable of detecting diminutive vehicles, the Kansas House of Representatives passed a bill that will allow motorcyclists and riders of scooters and bicycles to legally run "dead reds." Missouri has a similar law on the books. More »
The New York Times combed through the data and found that when the banks close branches, they're doing it in poorer neighborhoods. And when they open a new branch, it's more likely to be in a well-off area. While that makes business sense, it could violate the spirit of the Community Reinvestment Act which was passed to curb "redlining," where lower-income neighborhoods are discriminated against by the financial services industry. More »
Grumbling over proposed limits to debit card swipe fees, banks are hinting they're considering putting a cap on how much you can buy with a debit card. It could even be something like $50 or $100, forcing consumers to either pay with credit card or cash. More »
So annoying when syrupy sweet Large Sips cost more because they might make you fat! In Colorado, soda lovers are trying to repeal a tax on soft drinks. More »
The Justice Department wants major tobacco companies to admit its products cause 1,200 Americans to die every day, and also that it misled consumers with advertisements that "light" and low-tar" cigarettes were less harmful than regular cigarettes. More »
The latest news in the federal government's crackdown on taxpayers (or rather, people who are supposed to be paying taxes) with offshore bank accounts: Four bankers from Credit Suisse Group have been indicted on charges of aiding tax evaders in hiding around $3 billion in assets. More »
Here's a behind-the-scenes look at Security Theatre: An undercover TSA agent was able to slip through the full-body scanners at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with a handgun stashed in her undies... And not just once, but five times. More »
As a self-employed certified tax cat, I make sure to take advantage of every opportunity possible to reduce my taxable income. The health insurance premiums I pay for me and my litter have always worked to bring that number down, but they never did anything to reduce the amount I had to pay in Medicare and Social Security taxes. Until now. More »
When several thousand Verizon customers needed to dial 911 during a January snowstorm in the D.C. area, they were left hanging by the provider. The FCC has asked Verizon to investigate why an estimated 10,000 911 calls were dropped. More »
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is set to launch a database in the next few weeks that tracks reports of injuries resulting from strollers and cribs. A group of children's product manufacturers are trying to coax lawmakers to stifle the database and roll back other health regulations. More »
Adding some teeth and uniformity to a law against cell phone use while driving, the state of New York will tack two points onto the driving records of offenders in addition to making them pay a $100 fee. Previously, those who texted while driving were stuck with the points and fee, while drive-and-talkers got off with just a fee. More »
The Fed told Congress yesterday that it might rethink the plan to cap debit card swipe fees at 12 cents per swipe. One of the hopes is that merchants would be able to pass on the reduced costs to consumers in the form of lower prices. Lawmakers piled on in the hearing, saying that it would "batter banks still reeling from the 2008 financial crisis." How banks can both be posting soaring profits and still be "battered" and reeling is an accounting trick way over my head. More »
Wells Fargo is meeting today at noon with the Philadelphia homeowner who "foreclosed" on them, The Consumerist has exclusively learned. Patrick says he "received a call from upon high" late yesterday and that he now has an appointment, "with a very senior Wells Fargo person." It will be interesting to see how this plays out. But how did Patrick go from embattled and ignored homeowner to seated across the negotiating table with leverage? I spoke with him to find out more about both how and why he did what he did. His story is an inspiration to anyone who's dreamed of going toe-to-toe with the big banks and winning. Turns out that armed with persistence, and a little legal know-how, Davids can take down Goliaths. More »
A family in California has filed a lawsuit against Walt Disney World, alleging that the nacho cheese served at one of its restaurants was so hot it scalded their 4-year-old son. More »
Some Chicagoans who were snowed in during the area's recent bout of awful weather received a little surprise when they went out to check on their vehicles — $75 parking tickets. More »
There's a bunch of terms and provisions that keep showing up in the contracts you sign throughout life, but do you know what they mean? Who exactly are these "Heirs, Successors, and Assigns" coming over for the contract party? Do they have dietary restrictions? What is "separability?" Will it hurt? Well, we'll tell ya! More »
Are you outraged at recently proposed federal budget cuts, and dismayed that you just aren't contributing enough in taxes to help pay off the national debt? Good news! The Treasury Department has a program in place to donate toward the national debt. The program began in 1996, and has collected more than $406,000 so far this year. More »
The folks at Allergan, the company behind the popular Lap-Band weight loss surgery, have 26 million reasons to cheer today. After all, that's the number of potential new Lap-Band patients now that the FDA has lowered the minimum weight loss requirements for the procedure. More »
Have you seen a police horse lately? The New York Times reports that mounted patrols are on the decline nationwide, victims to budget cuts despite their popularity with the public and ability to put a cuddly, slightly archaic face on policing. "They are a valuable element to policing. The problem is I just couldn't afford it," the police director of Newark, N.J. told the Times. More »
Cell phones are crafty little tax machines for local, state and federal governments, now raking in their largest amount of taxes ever and posting sizable increases each year. More »
Frustrated with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a Philadelphia homeowner took the bank to court under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and won a $1,000 default judgment because it wouldn't answer his formal questions about a dispute. The bank blew him off, so the man got the sheriff to schedule a sale of contents of a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage location to pay for the judgment and $200 in court and sheriff's fees. More »
A provision in last year's federal health care reform bill requires all food-serving establishments with more than 20 outlets to post the calorie count of every item on the menu so customers know exactly what they're getting themselves into. The FDA is taking nationwide an idea that some cities and counties had already put in place. It seems like a good idea in theory, but studies show that calorie counts on menus just make people say "ah, screw it" and order the same amount of food that they would have without the calorie posting—or more. A new study in this month's International Journal of Obesity shows that children, too, fall into the same delicious caloric trap. More »
What won't you find on a list of must-pack items for cruise vacations? Narcotics and incriminating wads of drug money. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say a passenger on a Royal Caribbean cruise was caught with both inside his cabin, where he had allegedly set up a drug-dealing operation. More »
Looks like cigarette smokers will have to keep furiously chewing nicotine gum on U.S. flights, as the Department of Transportation has said "nope, not gonna do it," to allowing smokeless electronic cigarettes on airplanes. More »
Authorities arrested a Maryland teenager who is charged with making threats of a mass shooting at a high school. He's accused of impersonating another student while sending a threatening message to more than 100 people via Xbox Live. More »
If you live in California and you've ever been annoyed or concerned about giving out your ZIP code when making a credit card purchase, the state's Supreme Court has issued a ruling that should appeal to you. More »
Over 50,000 war widows whose late spouses paid for insurance to help support their families in the case they lost their life now find themselves unable to receive the entire benefit of the insurance — that is unless they remarry... but not until after they turn 57. More »
You depend on the company that makes your tax preparation software to actually be good at math, but Kevin is a little confused when looking at the pricing scheme for TurboTax this year. It doesn't make any sense, he points out, if you need to file state income taxes, or if you're filing returns for multiple households. More »
Unhappy Super Bowl ticket-holders, including some of the 400 who were forced to stand during the big game because their seats were deemed unsafe, have filed a lawsuit claiming they were misled by the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys and that team's owner Jerry Jones. More »
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke testified before the House Budget Committee today that he expects unemployment to "remain elevated" "for some time." So if you were putting your job search on the back burner, thinking, "oh, I'll just try harder when the economy gets better," it might be time to reevaluate that strategy. More »
If you are, or if you know, a person who is avoiding paying their taxes by stashing their cash in an offshore account, the IRS has announced a new amnesty program for just that sort of rich d-bag. More »
First Sony went after alleged PS3 hackers who broke down the console's firmware, opening it up to gamers to run pirated, copied and unlicensed games. Now it wants information on those who posted details of the hack online, even though they had no hand in its creation. More »
Florida became the second state after Louisiana to ban sales of MDPV, a synthetic drug with effects similar to meth and cocaine that sellers are marketing as "bath salts," NPR reports. They can be found in convenience stores and gas stations. Besides their high, authorities have said that the drug produces a psychotic break in their users, afflicting them with violent hallucinations. In one case, a man tore out a police radio from the car with his teeth. In another, a woman went after her mother with a machete, having confused her with a monster. Party time! More »
In a bold offer that speaks volumes about Detroit's housing market as well as its state of public safety, the city's mayor has offered to provide homes for as little as $1,000 to police and firefighters. More »
A mother of a four-year old child has filed a class action lawsuit against delicious hazelnut spread Nutella. In her complaint, the mother says she was as "shocked to learn" from her friends "that Nutella was in fact not a 'healthy,' 'nutritious' food," as advertised, "but was instead the next best thing to a candy bar." More »
The FCC has long subsidized access to land lines in rural areas, but will vote Tuesday to possibly shift the funding toward high-speed internet access. More »
In Vegas they say the house always wins, and that appears to be the case in December's brazen robbery of the Bellagio, in which an armed thief made of with $1.5 million in casino chips by escaping on a motorcycle. More »
The woman who tried to ship a four-month-old puppy from Minneapolis to Atlanta in an airless box using Priority Mail earlier this week reportedly would like the dog back. Will her request be granted, or will the puppy be made available to the numerous people all over the country who actually know how to keep an animal alive and have inquired about adopting him? More »
If you enjoy commemorative coinage, and want something tangible and shiny to mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, wait for the official coin coming from the U.S. Mint later this year. Skip the neat-looking coin currently being hawked on cable TV. That coin comes from a company with an untrustworthy past when it comes to 9/11 coinage, headed by the same man who brought us the Bedazzler. More »
ConsumerFinance.gov, the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new website, is live and in full effect. So is their Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. They want your suggestions and ideas so send 'em in! As they announced on their website their central role is "to make markets for consumer financial products and services work for America...The CFPB belongs to the people it serves. If you have suggestions, we want to hear them." More »
Rather than wait for his case against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to run the appellate court gauntlet, the attorney general for the commonwealth of Virginia has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments about the legislation now. More »
The smokers of New York City will soon have even fewer places to light up this summer after the Big Apple's city council voted to expand the existing ban on smoking in restaurants and bars to include, beaches, parks, boardwalks and other public spaces. More »
The government is updating the Energy Star program and launching a new higher tier of certification called "Superstar," Marketplace reports. The program currently certifies the top 25% most energy-efficient products in a given category, so the new star might be for the top 5%. Energy Star could certainly use an overhaul; last year the Government Accountability Office found it was able to submit and get certified 15 of 20 phony products, including a gasoline-powered alarm clock. More »
The Environmental Protection Agency is ratcheting up restrictions on drinking water, setting the first standards for perchlorate, a compound found in rocket fuel, as well as new standards for as many as 16 other toxic and carcinogenic chemicals. More »
A handful of South Dakota lawmakers have introduced a bill that would require every one of the state's citizens over the age of 21 to own a firearm. But the legislation isn't really intended to force South Dakota residents to take up arms. Instead, it's meant to highlight the questions some have regarding the constitutionality of the mandatory coverage portion of the health care bill. More »
Health care reform legislation lost a significant court battle Monday when a U.S. District Court judge in Florida ruled that the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is void after finding that the portion of the law that requires people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. More »
For all its tough talk, the Treasury can't do jack to reign in lenders who are wrongfully denying home owners loan modifications. After seeing reports that some banks were basically modifying no loans at all, Treasury staffers huddled up to talk about withholding payments and levying fines on the baddest of the bunch. Unfortunately, they were told by their own lawyers that they don't have that power. ProPublica reports, "staffers were walked back by Treasury lawyers, who said the government was only party to a commercial contract with servicers and not acting as their regulator." More »
If you listen very closely, you can just hear the agonized shrieks of torrent site users bemoaning the loss of their favorite movie-providing sites. The Motion Picture Association of America joined forces with Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN to shut down 12 torrent sites in the U.S. and 39 more abroad. More »
Spend, spend, spend! Buy, buy, buy! That's what all of you have been doing, especially at the end of 2010, says a new report from the Commerce Department, leading to an uptick in consumer spending which is helping to boost the economy. Good job! More »
File this one under "S" for "shut the front door!" — no, really, shut the front door and lock it: Senator Jim Alesi of New York is very angry that he injured himself after breaking into a home, and is suing the owners, his constituents, as well as the builders of the home. More »
Some of your 1099s may be delayed this year because recent changes in the tax law require them to be corrected. They're supposed to be mailed out by Jan 31 but this year they may not even show up until after the April 18th filing deadline. So what do you do? More »
If you bought a ticket from Ticketmaster between Oct '99 and May '10, get ready for some bucks/ticket discounts coming your way. Ticketmaster has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought against it in 2003 that alleged the ticket giant's processing fees were just a "profit component" and didn't recoup any actual costs of doing business. More »
A year ago, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations could not be banned from political spending during elections through either independent expenditures from corporations' general funds or "electioneering communications," i.e. political ads. Detractors cried out that it would let loose a flood of corporate cash into elections, and they were right. A new Public Citizen report shows that outside groups quadrupled their contributions during the last mid-term election from the previous, and we will never know exactly where a good deal of the money came from. More »
Though the move to require menus to sport calorie information was met with applause by health advocates, a new, limited, study of Taco Time restaurants in Seattle says they don't change what people decide to eat. More »
A 7-year-old Girl Scout and her mom set up shop selling cookies at a Florida shopping center when a woman in her 30s allegedly decided that she preferred a wad of cash to Thin Mints. Police say the woman swiped $92 and sped off in her car. More »
New Yorkers are slated to get free wifi in 32 public parks next year, but it will come with a pricetag. Park users will get three 10 minute sessions per month, and after that pay 99 cents a day. The money goes to Time Warner and Cablevision, who agreed to provide the wifi as part of the city agreeing to renew their cable-tv franchises for 10 years. Public advocates promptly slammed the deal as the privatization of a public good. More »
A year from now, you may be driving a little bit farther and waiting in longer lines to do your mail-related business. The USPS set a goal to shut down 2,000 branches and stations in 2011. No post offices are on the chopping block, but the new cuts are in addition to nearly 500 closures that are all ready in the works. The locations under threat of closure are smaller satellite offices that don't process mail and sometimes don't have mail carriers. More »
This digital photography fad isn't great for companies that built their empires on film, so Kodak seems to be grasping at legal straws to generate some revenue. The company filed a image-previewing patent claim to force smartphone makers such as Apple and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Limited to pay it royalties. The United States International Trade Commission ruled that the phones don't violate the patent. More »
To be beef, or not to be beef, that is the question in a lawsuit against Taco Bell for what one Alabama law firm claims is the company's dubious pronouncements of ground beef. The suit says the fast food purveyors are misleading customers by advertising its ground beef offerings as such. More »
Targeting executives who pay themselves too little in order to shield some of the money they make from taxes, the IRS is focusing its sunshine-concentrating magnifying glass on potential offenders. More »
Unhappy with the FCC's net neutrality rules that have yet to take effect, Verizon filed suit in a federal appeals court. in December, the FCC ruled that while wireless providers can throttle internet use based on what kind of content users are attempting to access, they can't block access to competitors. Non-wireless ISPs generally aren't allowed to throttle internet use. More »
A woman who was so focused on texting that she fell into a fountain is suing is hinting that she may sue the mall after leaked security footage of the incident went viral. More »
A Wisconsin mother received a vacuum from her children as a Christmas present. The gift quickly lost its dull nature when she opened it up to discover a stash of drugs encased inside. More »
Once January hits it's a good time to start getting ready for your taxes. To help you prepare, here's 8 ways your 1040 is going to be different this year: More »
In a heist that was probably narrated by Morgan Freeman, a determined Tennessee man is accused of tunneling into a GameStop in order to pilfer its sweet, unguarded wares in the dark of night. More »
15% of the mortgages Citigroup sold to government-owned Freddie Mac from the second half of 2009 and the first part of 2010 were riddled with flaws, according to an internal report obtained by Bloomberg. The error rate should be about 5%. The mistakes included missing insurance docs, missing appraisals and income miscalculations. More »
We've been warning readers for years against "refund anticipation loans," where tax preparers like H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt give you a pre-paid debit card now loaded with your expected return (minus fees and interest). And yet, these cards have continued to appeal to some lower-income taxpayers who don't have bank accounts for direct-deposit of their returns. Now the federal government is providing these people with an alternative — a debit card that will accept the direct deposit. More »
The Kardashians have been sued over their Kardashian Card, a pre-loaded debit card they agreed to put their faces and names on and help promote. The card was slammed by critics and an AG almost as soon as it came out for the high hidden fees it hoped to extract from the teen audience it was targeting. But the plaintiff isn't a government body or members of a class action, it's the Kardashian's former business partners. More »
Worried about the possibility of liver damage from over use, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked manufacturers of prescription drugs containing acetaminophen to limit the amount of acetaminophen to no more than 325 mg in each tablet or capsule. More »
Apparently due to wealthy Hollywood types' yearning for exotic pets, Los Angeles International Airport — its friends call it LAX — has long been known as animal smuggling central. In the most recent high-profile incident, Japanese passengers were busted for sneaking 55 live tortoises and turtles in luggage. More »
Saying it's caught New York City's hand in the Medicaid cookie jar, the federal government has sued the city, claiming it billed Medicaid for "at least tens of millions of dollars" more than it was legally allowed. More »
The Kinder Surprise is a delicious chocolate egg that contains a small toy. They're available pretty much everywhere....except the United States, which has banned them because the tiny toys present a choking hazard to small children. And people who like to swallow chocolate eggs whole, we guess. The CBC reports that a Winnipeg woman didn't know this, and was almost fined $300 for attempting to bring a single $2 egg into the country. More »
In a potential foreshadowing of things to come, Massachusetts's Supreme Court upheld the voiding of two home seizures this week because the banks couldn't prove they owned the mortgages at the time they foreclosed. More »
After a damning Star Ledger investigation exposed how a local doctor was the steroid dealer for "hundreds" of New Jersey cops and firefighters, lawmakers there have put forth a bill to crack down on the practice. The law would add steroids to the list of drugs law enforcement is randomly tested for and personnel would need to get a health checkup before they could be prescribed anabolic steroids and growth hormones. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that the problem is not limited to the Garden State. More »
Sorry, Chinese solar panel salesmen, your days of racking up commissions from sales to the American military are over, because a new federal law forbids the Pentagon from buying non-American panels. More »
What with all that free healthcare and those easygoing natures up north in Canada, there's not much to get upset about. So why not sue over a penis enlarger to stir stuff up? More »
You're a thief who has just exercised your criminal genius to swipe two credit cards from an unsuspecting victim. You know you probably have only a few hours to use your golden tickets to fulfill your dreams before the cards are rendered worthless. What do you do? Try and buy as many chicken sandwiches as possible, of course. More »
The bedbug lawsuits are flying... or maybe they're crawling. Anyway, Gothamist has a post about the most recent customer to point a calamine-scented finger at the Waldorf-Astoria. More »
FinallyFast, one of those companies with the late-night infomercials promising to make your computer faster, has settled with the Washington AG for misleading and deceiving consumers, and making it hard to cancel or get refunds. One of their tactics was to make the free scan on their site falsely identify harmless files on your computer as being errors. Consumers can now get some of their money back. More »
Tax Cat here. Yes, I'm sorry, it's me again. What? You're glad to see me? You're going to itemize? Oh, I can't stop purring. Well, I know Consumerist readers are already hard at work preparing their 2010 returns — and never, ever procrastinate — but I thought I'd pop in and mention that a little-known D.C. holiday that celebrates the freeing of slaves (called "Emancipation Day") is being observed on April 15th. That means that since taxes can't be due on Saturdays, Sundays or holidays — you get until April 18th this year to file your taxes! More »
Ron Paul, career-long proponent of outmoded and discredited Austrian economic theory, went on Colbert last night to talk about how paper money sucks and he wants you you to be able to go into a store and buy a six-pack with some gold ingots. His proof? Paper money can rot and people have believed in the value of gold for centuries. So, gold is "better" because the collective hallucination around it is stronger. This wouldn't be disturbing except for the fact that Ron Paul is the new Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy. Yeeeeeks. More »
What would be even worse than losing the entire stored value of your gift cards after a few years? Having the state seize it as unclaimed property and use your money to pay its bills. More »
The Federal Reserve Board, which sets US national monetary policy, released minutes from its latest meeting today, striking a tone of temperate growth. More »
The first step to get yourself out of a hole is to stop digging, but that's a lesson the federal government refuses to acknowledge, allowing the national debt to soar past $14 trillion. More »
Assuming a $40,000 donation to his alma mater would grease the wheels enough to get his son an easy acceptance letter, the donor is suing because the college left his son hanging. More »
Just because you're locked up, you shouldn't have to miss out on texting buddies, logging status updates and playing FarmVille. Thanks to smuggling channels and intense demand, cell phones have become as much a part of the prison experience as lunchtime brawls and toothbrush shanks. More »
While the FDA prepares to roll out graphic warning labels for cigarette packages, the city of New York had been hoping to get a head start on the agency by requiring stores that sell cigarettes to put up anti-smoking posters. However, a judge in U.S. District Court has ruled that the city doesn't have the authority to enact such a regulation. More »
To combat mortgage relief fraud, the FTC would like to make a new rule that would ban mortgage modification services from charging up-front fees. "Homeowners facing foreclosure or struggling to make mortgage payments shouldn't have to contend with fraudulent 'companies' that don't provide what they promise," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. "The proposed rule would outlaw up-front fees so companies can't take the money and run." Indeed, there are some shady operators in this area and consumers need to beware. More »
In what the USDA says is an attempt to better inform the meat-buying public about the products they buy, many popular cuts of meat and poultry will be required to carry labels with detailed nutritional information. More »
How much do you like Dunkin' Donuts? Definitely not as much as the New Jersey couple who are so devoted to its drive-thru coffee that they decided to get married there. More »
As part of the extension of the Bush tax cuts, Social Security payroll tax will drop from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. That means you'll be taking home more money each paycheck, even if your stingy employer has frozen your wages. More »
Giving an odd boost to cable providers, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the state could slap a sales tax on satellite TV services even though cable companies don't need to tack the tax on to their packages. More »
Before you consider snooping in your spouse's email, you may want to pay close attention to a case unfolding in Michigan in which a man faces up to five years of prison for hacking into his wife's messages. More »
Steroids — they're not just for linebackers anymore. Some police officers, presumably seeking to get any edge they can to survive on the streets, are getting busted for 'roiding it up in increasing numbers. More »
At the request of Motorola, which claims Microsoft is violating its wireless technology patents, the United States International Trade Commission is conducting an investigation that Motorola hopes ends with Microsoft forbidden to import Xboxes. More »
The town of Bridgewater, NJ, just spent $17,000 in legal costs to defend its right to charge a guy $5 for a CD recording of a town council meeting. The man had argued that he should only be required to pay for the actual cost of the CD. The case went to court and the town ended up losing. The kicker? They also had to pay him back a $4.04 refund for the overage. More »
A doctor has sued the Houston's restaurant in Miami after he ate a complete artichoke that he ordered, including the spiny and sharp exterior leaves. He subsequently suffered "severe abdominal pain and discomfort," and a "exploratory laparotomy" showed that the artichoke leaves were jammed in his "small bowel." His lawsuit claims that he had "never seen nor heard of previously" an artichoke and that it was the restaurant's fault for not teaching him how to eat it. More »
Cries of "they took our jobs" can be replaced with "they took our votes," thanks to census data that will shift seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and electoral votes away from the Midwest and Northeast to southern and western states. More »
The FCC has ruled on net neutrality and offered up a compromise solution: ISPs can't throttle fixed line computer users based on what kind of content they're accessing, but wireless providers can. More »
The thrashing continues for Toyota, which has had to recall more than 11 million cars since the Fall of 2009 thanks to myriad problems, including bum gas pedals and steering relay rods. The car company has coughed up $16.4 million in government fines, and now will pay $32.4 million more. More »
According to a new poll by our careful cousins at Consumer Reports, most Americans are concerned about product recalls, but don't believe they're getting enough information about them. Only 13% said they were very confident that they were getting enough information about recalls from manufacturers and retailers. And just 8% were very confident that the government was getting enough information from those companies. More »
If there's one thing we've learned from either the war on drugs or the RIAA's fight against music piracy, the most effective way to fight crime is to punish the end user. That must be why Nike is using a similar strategy in the UK to combat counterfeit footwear. More »
No one wants to spend their golden years fending off unwarranted shoplifting charges, but that's the situation in which a 74-year-old Missouri man finds himself. Following up on Walmart complaints, authorities accused the man of nearly 20 robberies at stores throughout the midwest. He's maintained his innocence and finally seems to be making some headway. More »
More than a year after settling a class-action lawsuit over false advertising claims, Dannon has finally settled a separate but related complaint from the Federal Trade Commission. As a result, the company says it will no longer market unproven health benefits of its Activia and DanActive yogurts. More »
A gunman allegedly robbed the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas, and he didn't need to split his take with an acrobat, explosives expert or Matt Damon. The thief sauntered into the casino, made off with $1.5 million in chips from a craps table, then sped off on a motorcycle. More »
A recent study commissioned by the AP showed that dozens of decorative glasses featuring superheros (like Wonder Woman and Superman) and movie characters (like the cast of Wizard of Oz), have "up to 1,000 times more" lead than is currently allowed for children's products. The AP asked the CPSC to issue a recall. The CPSC's response? The glasses are not children's products. More »
The FAA says its records are in such disarray that its afraid that criminals could buy planes "without the government's knowledge" or use the registration numbers of other planes. The agency has ordered all aircraft owners to re-register. More »
A printing error on the fancy new $100 bills means that nearly a billion are in storage until the government figures out how many to destroy. The paper got creased during printing, leaving a portion of Franklin's face uninked. It's a $110 billion boo-boo! More »
Someone forgot to pay attention to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which teaches that giving Slugworth an everlasting gobstopper will lead directly to ruin. In a sting operation, the FBI arrested an alleged satellite smuggler who did contract work for Microsoft. More »
Pushing the "there's no such thing as bad publicity" mentality to the extreme, an online retailer allegedly stalked and threatened customers in order to boost his search engine visibility. The seller reportedly went to such extremes that federal authorities stepped in and arrested him on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, making interstate threats and cyberstalking. More »
Given that Walmart is the country's largest private employer it's not terribly surprising that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to have a look at the sex discrimination lawsuit filed against the retailer — the largest class-action suit of its kind in U.S. history. More »
You can get up to $175 if you bought, used, or suffered property damage from using Clorox Automatic Toilet Bowl cleaners, thanks to a class action settlement. More »
It's bad enough to be stuck with a parking ticket when you deserved to get dinged, but much worse when you were obeying the rules and still got hammered due to a glitch. More »
Federal prosecutors dropped their case against a California man accused of modding Xboxes to to play pirated and unlicensed games. The reasons the lawyers gave were "fairness and justice," which was a way of saying they screwed up the case. More »
Unless Congress acts quickly, unemployment benefits will stop cold for 2 million Americans who have been jobless for 99 weeks. Benefits have already been extended well past normal lengths, but if no other extension comes, the loss of income will make the holidays sting that much harder for people unable to find work for nearly two years. More »
People are so insistent on driving while using their cell phones that only death in a car accident will stop them from doing so. Spurred by the prevalence of fatal accidents caused by distracted drivers — 5,500 last year — the government is mulling over the concept of using technology to force drivers to put down their phones. More »
Wary of surfing the web because you don't want any of your information or browsing habits being shared with the world? The folks at the Federal Trade Commission apparently understand your concerns and have proposed new regulations that would let users decide which sites and advertisers can track their online behavior. More »
Earlier today, the Senate passed its version of a new food safety bill that would increase the authority of the Food & Drug Administration in making recalls and inspecting food processing facilities. The intent behind the bill is to proactively prevent outbreaks of tainted food instead of just dealing with the negative health and economic after effects. More »
Not only did hardcore shoppers have to brave chilling temperatures when they waited in line at a Wisconsin Toys R Us Thursday night for a Black Friday sale, they had to face a woman who cut in line and made threats of going to get a gun. More »
Instead of messing with Wolverine, smarmy Marvel anti-hero Deadpool has his sights set on a Long Island screenwriter. He's called upon his bosses at 20th Century Fox to sue the writer for $15 million because she posted Fox screenplays, including an early copy of the script from his upcoming movie, the New York Post reports. More »
An opt-out protestor wore a bikini through security. [NBC Los Angeles] A male college student did the same in a Speedo with "SCREW BIG SIS" markered on his back. TSA said he wasn't detained as he was not a threat. [JonAndEric] Two protestors at the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix AZ held up signs mentioning "pornoscans," drawing both "sidelong glances" and "words of support." [AP] Half a dozen protestors at Tampa airport talk about tyranny. [TBO] Overall, checkpoints are running smoothly with no major delays. "Most travelers seemed more interested in getting to their destinations than in making a political statement." [NYT] More »
The day is finally here. No, not the day before Thanksgiving. Something far more important than spending time with your family, National Opt-Out Day. People who are doing it plan to, when asked to step through the body imaging machine, opt-out and get the enhanced pat-down instead. Are you gonna do it, or do you think it's stupid - or worse? Take our poll! More »
A Columbia University radiation expert says the Transportation Security Administration's airport body scans are "likely" to cause cancer in some passengers. The expert also said Department of Homeland Security-commissioned research, which found that the exposure to radiation is minimal, is suspect because it has not been peer reviewed. More »
Adam Savage of Mythbusters carries around a bunch of weird crap, so he's always careful to check his laptop bag and person to make sure he's not going to have any of his valuable nonsense confiscated by the TSA. Except one day last May... More »
People have been wondering how the EPA would rate the Nissan Leaf. The normal "miles per gallon" didn't make sense because the car uses electricity, not gas. The results are finally in, and the vehicle has scored a 99 MPGe. That stands for "Miles Per Gallon equivalent." More »
American citizen with free time declines both backscatter scan and patdown upon re-entering country, ends up being able to walk through security without doing either even after cops are called. [NO BLASTERS!] TSA head makes ad explaining why there's nothing to fear. Message belied by ominous grey background. [YouTube] Reporter goes through pat-down to show us how easy it is. "He uses the back of his hand to check the front of my groin area." [KDAF] An "I'll be groped for Christmas" holiday jingle. [YouTube] Man opts for third choice: stripping down to his skivvies. Is then arrested and walked through two terminals in his underwear. [NBC San Diego] SNL reimagines TSA as a sexy 80's hookup company. [Hulu] More »
Still don't understand quantitative easing? Is it really just "printing money" or something more subtle? These animated xtranormal pig bunnies seem to have a grasp, at least judging by the millions of hits this movie of them explaining it has gotten. "The only thing deflating is the Fed's credibility," says one pig bunny to the other. More »
Fed up with untimely calls from the Terminator, Robocop and other telemarketrons, Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is going after four telemarketing firms in the state, aiming to stick them with fines and injunctions that will stop them from making more cold calls. More »
Man with a bladder bag says a TSA patdown left him humiliated and soaked in urine. [MSNBC] Video of frustrated father ripping shirt off shy son so TSA can complete search. [YouTube] Video of 3-year old girl screaming and writhing during TSA patdown. Her teddy being taken away and going through the x-ray seemed to have set her off. [KGTV] Airport opt-out day is imbecilic. [Slate] TSA bumper stickers. "It's not a grope, it's a freedom pat." [Althouse] More »
Most people who want tax increases seem to think the rate hikes should apply only to people wealthier than themselves. And many who want across-the-board tax cuts believe that lightening the tax load on the richest folks will create a trickle-down effect that helps everyone. More »
For those of you who thought it might be worth it to be screened and patted-down by the TSA for your trip to the Netherlands, just so long as you could sit in a "coffee shop" and get stoned without threat of a legal hassle, here's some bad news. In an effort to curb so-called "drug tourism," the Dutch government is looking to limit the sale of cannabis to residents only. More »
After 32 years on the job as a flight attendant, not to mention being a breast cancer survivor, a North Carolina woman says airport screeners went too far when they told her to remove her prosthetic breast during a recent pat-down. More »
As we wrote last week, two of the nation's largest airline pilots unions had recently told their members to refuse full-body scanners at airport security, arguing that pilots have already undergone rigorous background checks before getting their jobs. Now the head of the TSA says their could soon be a rule change that would treat pilots differently than passengers. More »
Apparently, the "O" in Overstock.com stands for "Overstating discounts and misleading customers," at least according to the district attorneys in seven California counties. They've filed suit against the online retailer, alleging it made untrue statements about its pricing. More »
In case you hadn't heard, there's been a slight bit of public push-back to the TSA's increased use of full-body scanners and invasive pat-downs at security checkpoints. And at least one airport in Florida is telling the TSA "no thanks," opting to use a private contractor instead. More »
There are few sites on the internet more tapped into the zeitgeist than the hive mind over at Reddit. So it should come as little surprise to those familiar with Reddit that a group of the site's editors — or Redditors — have banded together to create a forum for those who feel less than enthusiastic about the TSA's roll-out of full-body scanners and its "enhanced" pat-down procedures. More »
It hasn't been a laugh-filled autumn for the people at South Park. First they had to issue a public apology after plagiarizing a portion of a College Humor parody of the movie Inception. Now they are facing legal action from the makers of the so-awful-you-send-it-to-your-friends YouTube music video "What What (In the Butt)," alleging copyright infringement. More »
Earlier today, there was speculation that the FDA might issue a declaration that effectively bans alcoholic beverages that contain caffeine and other stimulants. While the agency opted to not go to such lengths, it did announce that caffeine added to malt liquor qualifies as an "unsafe food additive" and sent warning letters to the makers of seven different drinks, giving them 15 days to come up with a plan for remedying the violation. More »
For the second day in a row, TSA head Jon Pistole was testifying before Senate about the recent negative attention that the agency's full-body scanners and 'enhanced' pat-downs have received. And Pistole admitted that the newer, hands-on procedure is more touchy-feely than it had been previously. More »
Reports say the the Food & Drug Administration is planning to announce today that caffeine is an unsafe food additive in alcoholic drinks. This would effectively ban a whole range of products like Four Loko, Joose and Sparks, which market themselves as a sort of boozed-up energy drink. More »
CBS says the have a poll that shows Americans overwhelmingly support full body "naked" scanners at airports, despite what some "civil rights groups" have to say about them. More »
Feds are considering expansions to the Americans with Disabilities Act that could lead to the online equivalent of sidewalk ramps and wide, arm rail-equipped toilet stalls. Law updates could require certain sites that offer goods and services to make changes that allow those with disabilities to use them. More »
In these days of financial frailty, there is a lot of armchair quarterbacking going on about what needs to be done to fix the federal budget. Over at the New York Times, they've actually put together an interactive way for you to try your hand at meddling with the nation's checkbook. More »
Did you assume that once you got to the airport, if the TSA was doing something you didn't like, you could just opt-out and decide not to fly? The answer is — nope. According to CNN and the TSA, a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals compels all passengers to be screened, whether they fly or not. Refusing screening will result in being denied access to secure airport areas and may result in civil penalties. More »
What's wrong with Arif's water meter? He and his fiancée use a modest amount of water, but the local water authority claims that the two of them are somehow using 200 gallons per day. If this seems like it should be a straightforward problem to fix...well, you've never had to deal with a local water authority. More »
We hadn't been in a Spencer Gifts (aka Spencer's) since Color Me Badd was lighting up the charts, but our memories of the mall-based stores are of goofy bachelor party gag gifts and posters of bikini-clad women. The authorities in Rapid City, SD, believe the store is an unlicensed "adult-oriented business" and on Monday the police seized boxes containing around 2,000 "sex-related" products. More »
Meg McLain claims that the TSA ripped up her US Airways plane ticket and called police who restrained her in a chair, cuffed her, and escorted her out of the airport after she opted out of the backscatter can. Her radio interview describing the incident is at 390,000 hits and growing, and the TSA has posted CCTV of the incident on their blog. More »
Even though people have been using the phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong" for two decades, Nintendo has just gotten around to filing a request with the Patent and Trademark office to slap a little "TM" on those words. More »
In an effort to convince cigarette smokers to quit — and to stop potential smokers from picking up a pack — the FDA's Dept. of Health and Human Services has proposed a series of larger, more graphic warnings for cigarette packs and advertising. More »
Acting to make the administration of CT scans safer, the Food and Drug Administration released documents that urged better training for those who administer tests as well as warnings for patients about the radiation levels to which the tests expose them. More »
The FDIC seized four more banks on Friday. That brings the total number for 2010 to 143, the most in a year since the S&L fiasco back in the 80's. Here's who went down: More »
To shut down "fee harvesters" and other crafty tricks credit cards cooked up to escape the CARD act, the Federal Reserve has proposed three ways to tighten and clarify the rules. More »
The third time was not the charm for Jamie Thomas-Rasset, who has spent the last several years wrapped up legal wranglings with the Recording Industry Association of America over 24 songs she downloaded through Kazaa back when people still used Kazaa. The latest development — a jury in her third trial has found her liable for $1.5 million ($62,500/song) in damages to Capitol Records. More »
Some iPhone owners say Apple's iOS 4 tossed some sand in the gears of their older iPhones, and at least one angry customer thinks it was all part of Apple's plan to make iPhone owners sour on their devices and upgrade to the iPhone 4. More »
Fifty-three years ago, the Dodgers told the borough of Brooklyn to shove it up its nose with a rubber hose and lit out for the warmer climes of Los Angeles. Now they've returned — well, at least their lawyers have — to file a trademark infringement complaint against a local burger company for daring to use a similar font and the word "Brooklyn." More »
Today the Fed announces it will buy back $600 billion in Treasuries, a nuanced effort that aims to stimulate the economy by lowering interest rates. More »
C, who is in the military, says a Taser-happy security guard hunted him down in the parking lot of a North Carolina nightclub, giving him a 50,000 volt "move along" message, and now he's weighing his options as to how to proceed. More »
Money is tight in the federal government, so the Obama administration nixed a proposed $150 billion manned NASA flight back to the Moon. The backup plan: A robot who's willing to make the trip for $450 million. More »
The North Country Gazette, an online-only publication based in Chestertown, NY, wants you to know that reading their site without a subscription is serious business. How serious? Well, if you read more than one page on the site without a subscription, the site owner claims that she will use your IP address to track you down and sue you. More »
Parenting and computer game obsessions don't mix. News of unspeakably sad proof of this came from Jacksonville, where a mother has pleaded guilty to murdering her baby, who wouldn't stop crying as she played Farmville. More »
New York's Department of Motor Vehicles doesn't believe that Danjalier already paid the fees to have his driver's license un-suspended. Never mind that he used a credit card, the charge from the DMV posted to his credit card, and the credit card company (American Express) tried to convince the DMV that yes, Danjalier had in fact already paid them. More »
What happens when you have phone service through Comcast and you dial 0 for the operator in an emergency? A family in Florida claims that Comcast's negligence killed their grandmother. The elderly woman bled to death next to her phone while waiting for the Comcast operator and emergency services to figure out where she lived. Now they're suing Comcast. More »
It's always tricky when a popular talk show host changes networks and tries to bring some of his associated gags and characters along with them. That's the situation facing Conan O'Brien as he preps to launch his new TBS show and expects the suits at his former network NBC to have some complaints. More »
A 77-year-old man decided to cash out his comic book collection and peddled it around Upstate New York. Police say thugs who found out he had the collection broke into his home, took the comic books and beat the man, allegedly causing a heart attack that resulted in his death. More »
In the 1980s, discount retailer Burlington Coat Factory — where all the cool kids got their two-toned jeans when I was in middle school — got snagged selling faux Fendi bags. As part of its settlement with the Italian luxury brand, the Factory agreed to never sell anything with the Fendi name again without the label's permission. Unfortunately, someone forgot about that agreement and now Burlington has to pony up $10 million to Fendi. More »
Mercury poisoning does not only afflict egotistical actors trying to get out of Speed-the-Plow performances, but New York men who devour 10 cans of tuna every week for two years. And the latter variety may decide to sue tuna makers for their troubles. More »
The FDA has released the warning letter it recently sent to Quality Egg, one of the facilities behind the massive egg recall in August. And while some things are redacted — mostly details from Quality's plan to get back up to snuff — the letter contains more than its fair share of stomach-churning imagery. More »
Crimefighters at the Justice Department put on their antitrust capes today, filing a lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The DOJ alleges the insurance company violated antitrust laws by asking hospitals to sign contracts that precluded other insurers from offering a better discount. More »
Low-ranking government apparatchiks are wasting taxpayer dollars and violating our trust by exploiting their access to massive government databases to look up private information on their neighbors and ex-spouses, and "doc gawk" on celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Matt Damon, James Taylor, and Tom Brady. More »
Authorities busted a ring of reputed Armenian gangsters who they allege perpetrated the most ginormous Medicare fraud of all time, racking up $163 million in fake claims. More »
Back in July, pony-tailed celeb chef Mario Batali found himself the subject of a lawsuit filed by workers at five of his NYC area restaurants for allegedly withholding credit card tips from the staff. Absent from that litigation were employees at Batali's flagship eatery Del Posto... until yesterday when 27 members of that restaurant's staff sued, claiming they weren't paid a legal wage. More »
The Fed sent out signals that it could be making a major new move as soon, which experts think could take the form of buying back up to $500 billion in Treasury Bonds. They could decide as soon as their next meeting on November 2nd, which also happens to be Election Day. More »
Terri writes that when the homes in her neighborhood were built more than 60 years ago, they were built with septic tanks instead of being part of a municipal sewer system. Instead of maintaining their own tanks, some residents want to be part of the sewer system, and the neighborhood is about to become one with the sewer system. Terri wonders: what can she do to stop this? She'd welcome input from any readers who have had similar experiences. More »
Last week, we asked you what annoyed you most about your mobile phone plan, and most of you picked "cost." Now comes news that the Federal Communications Commission is going to review new proposals intended to keep you from spending more on your phone bill than you'd planned. More »
Back in May, we asked readers if they still used the White Pages and an overwhelming 87% of you said no. Soon, those of you in Seattle who no longer use the phone book will be able to opt out of receiving the annual doorstop. More »
As the Troubled Asset Relief Program winds down, post-mortems for the program are rolling in. According to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the bailout effort — which was launched by former President George W. Bush in 2008 and officially ended last month — will end up costing taxpayers a mere $50 billion, rather than the $350 billion that the Congressional Budget Office pegged it at last year. More »
It seems snippy threats can get you places. After McDonald's threatened to drop health coverage for 30,000 workers unless the government granted it an exemption from a mandate to spend 80 to 85 percent of premiums on benefits, the Department of Health and Human Services granted a waiver to the company and 29 others. More »
In what could be a frivolous lawsuit that goes nowhere, but may make musical artists a little gun shy about pictures they co-opt onto album covers, a former NASA astronaut is suing Dido over her use of an iconic 1984 photo of him doing his spaceman thing for her album Safe Trip Home. More »
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't want people getting fat off of government aid, so he's trying to make soda and other sugary drinks ineligible for Food Stamp purchases. More »
An elderly woman in Kansas City was forced out of her longtime home this week because of a deed mixup. No, Bank of America didn't foreclose on her by mistake. Why are her belongings on the lawn? The situation dates back to 1998, when her friend and roommate, the owner of the house, died without properly transferring the deed. A probate battle ensued. Now a real estate company owns the house, and has offered to sell it for $60,000. They paid $13,000 at auction. More »
You're broke. How would you like a $54.95 debit card? It's empty, but if you ever do get any money, you can put up to $2,500 on it. Yay. If that doesn't sound like a bargain, it's no wonder that one internet marketer of payday loan referral sites was hiding the fact that he was signing you up for these dodo cards via a pre-checked checkbox on the signup form, and the FTC smacked him down for it. More »
Despite efforts by Electronic Arts to make Medal of Honor more palatable to military members and their families, bases still won't sell the game when it releases next week. The game formerly allowed online gamers to play as Taliban members, but EA backed down to pressure and changed the squads' names to "Opposing Force." More »
While testing out its electronic vote-by-mail program for overseas voters, the District of Columbia invited hackers to do their worst to break into the system. The programming geeks answered with decisive force, with someone making the site play the University of Michigan's fight song after a test subject submitted the ballot. D.C. officials suspended testing before patching things up and getting back online. More »
Since Skynet and Rekall couldn't thwart Arnold Schwarzenegger, California government employees probably knew they were in for a beatdown when they sued the governor. They contended he lacked authority to force them to take 46 unpaid days off between February 2009 and June 2010. More »
A Cleveland driver paid to register his van and truck the day before his birthday, but got stuck with late fees because the Bureau of Motor Vehicles office insisted his birthday was three weeks earlier. The clerk's response when the man produced a driver's license with his correct birthday? Sorry; we can't update the computer record or refund the penalty. More »
We don't know about you, but the first think we think of when someone says "Chippendales Dancers," is Chris Farley in nothing but a bow tie, shirt cuffs and spandex pants. And yet, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, that isn't enough to trademark male revue's signature outfits. More »
Everyone hates loud commercials, which is why Senate Republicans and Democracts were able to agree on something and Wednesday unanimously passed a bill banning them. The bill would require commercials to be broadcast at the same sound level as the programs they're interrupting. More »
If you don't want Comcast to own NBC, you can use this handy dandy online petition Consumers Union put together for you to tell the FCC. As the agency continue to mull over the deal, perhaps your opinion may help sway theirs. But why might Kabletown owning the peacock be bad for consumers? More »
Inflation is good, at the right time, and in moderate amounts. Like adding just a smidge during a recession when there's a lot of people in debt. Knowing that prices will rise, some consumers and businesses are prodded to crack open their pocketbooks. The value of debts drop, easing the burden on strapped borrowers. Having used up a lot of options already, the Fed could slightly raise its inflation target and let prices slowly rise over the next few years, but they're unlikely to announce anything remotely close to that in their meeting this week. Namely because people really really really hate inflation. Why is that? More »
Boise, Idaho police arrested a man for "video voyeurism" at Walmart. His offense was cruising the aisles and snapping shots under women's skirts. More »
The FTC wants to see some proof that the pomegranate ingredients in POM Wonderful's products can actually treat heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction, which is what the company says in marketing and packaging materials. More »
The New York Bar Association has decreed that it's okay for lawyers to troll through Facebook and other social media sites for damaging info on their opposition. There is an important caveat, though. It's only ethical if the info is publicly available. "Friending" someone for the purpose of accessing data the person only makes available to their "friends" is not kosher, nor is it cool to ask someone else to do it for you. More »
Kim tells Consumerist that while she lives in the United States, she got married in the Cayman Islands. That sounds very beautiful and romantic and all, but she wondered: would she have problems with the handwritten marriage certificate when she returned home and needed to change her last name? Nope. No private or government institutions had any trouble with the handwritten certificate...except Scottrade. Apparently, online brokerages are stricter about name changes than the U.S. State Department. Who knew? More »
In an effort to both educate younger people about health care reform and engender the creative spirit in our readers, Consumers Union has announced its So You Think You're Invincible? video contest. More »
Online "marketing" company Webloyalty has settled with the New York AG for $5.2 mil. You know how when you buy movie tickets and at the end it says, "You won a free $10 gift certificate!" And then if you read the small print it says that if you accept the gift certificate you get signed up for a discount club that charges a monthly fee? Yeah, that was their game. More »
Warning that the diabetes medication Avandia increases patients' risk of heart problems and strokes, the Food and Drug Administration threw a set of cuffs on the drug. It will still be available, but only as a last resort for those who go through several other methods of battling the disease. More »
If you live in North Dakota and find yourself buried in overdraft fees, don't go crying to the state's Supreme Court. Judges ruled that a bank was within its rights to stick a hog farmer with $12,000 in overdraft charges. More »
Most college football fans agree that the method the NCAA decides who gets to play for its football championship is competitively abhorrent, and now a political action committee is claiming that the system is buried in financial malfeasance as well. More »
Anti-robbery systems at ATMs, like an alarm button button or a PIN code used to alert police you're getting mugged, are rarely installed on the cash disgorgers, and with good reason. More »
If you're curious about whether the food you're munching on is the product of gene-splicing scientists, don't expect the Food and Drug Administration to allay those fears. More »
A journalist who was searching the Florida Gulf Islands National Seashore for signs of oil pollution got a silly reason to go home from federal agents. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representative told the WEAR ABC 3 Pensacola reporter, who was using a shovel to dig through the sand, that he needed to produce a permit that said he could do so. Soon after, a National Parks Service rep told the reporter the same thing. More »
A Midtown Manhattan sandwich shop got less than stellar marks from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene decided to integrate its 'B' grade into some inaccurate, possibly ironic advertising. More »
If you're looking for insight into what's going on inside the mind of Elizabeth Warren, check out her blog. Before she became the new special adviser to President Obama, and probably the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau she designed, she was blogging on CreditSlips, a group blog by several academics on consumer credit, bankruptcy, mortgages, and the like. WSJ's Mary Pilon rounds up some of her notable posts, like her final one, entitled, "Bullshit — Professionally Speaking," on the subject of deceptive contract language. More »
The Consumer Financial Protection Agency has gotten one step closer to a reality, with Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren being named a special advisor to President Obama, focusing on the agency's creation. More »
It's a battle of biblical proportions as one IHOP — better known as the International House of Pancakes — fights another IHOP — the International House of Prayer — over the use of those four famous letters. More »
Matt says George Lucas' lawyers are sending Storm Troopers after him for using the word "droid" in the title of his startup, Addroid. He has precious few days to coordinate his Rebel Alliance defense and sent out a hologram (OK, an email) saying "Help me, Consumerists. You're my only hope!" More »
In November, California voters will have their say on Proposition 19, which would make it legal to grow, possess and use up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use. And as that decision day draws near, a group of law enforcement insiders has come out in support of the proposition, saying it would free up the police to focus its efforts on more serious crimes. More »
Banks must triple the amount of cash they keep on reserve under a new set of guidelines backed by a global group of regulators this Sunday. With a more generous than expected deadline for the rules to take effect, financial stocks perked up on the news. More »
Screw fingerprints. That's so 2009. That's the attitude the Homeland Security Dept. is taking in Mexico, where it will be testing out a new iris-scanning technology that it claims is faster than old-fashioned fingerprinting. More »
The American traveler who wouldn't answer the questions of the passport control officer upon re-entry to these shores beyond the legally required minimum has posted a 10-point response to the over seven-hundred comments his story received. Long-story short: "The only absolute and unqualified right of citizenship is to residence within the territorial boundaries of the United States; a citizen cannot be either deported or denied reentry." U.S. v. Valentine. More »
If you own a junk car without plates, it's a good idea to keep it hidden away, especially if you live in North Port, Fla., which tends to stick violators for thousands of dollars in fees. More »
Even though your friends may be bored with your copious Facebook posts, there is a certain group that is very interested in your lame airport terminal observations and vacation photos. That group would be thieves. More »
If you love our recurring posts about people who won't comply with stores demanding to see their receipts, you'll go Lady GaGa over the American citizen who refuses to answer customs cops' questions beyond the legally required bare minimum. More »
Mark writes in with a nightmarish tale of government bureaucracy costing him ever-expanding late fees by failing to inform him he owed money, then making him wait several weeks to set up a meeting and apply to appeal. More »
Authorities have interviewed every single passenger that was on Steven Slater's last flight, and not a single one says events went down the way he's been describing them, according to a Port Authority police official. More »
Some people drink tea to put a little spark into their day, but a Nashville man got explosions instead. He's suing Starbucks and Whole Foods after bottles of Tazo green tea exploded twice in his possession. One time the bottle shattered in his hand, and another it blew up in his shopping cart. On one of the occasions, shards of glass damaged tendons in his hand that required two surgeries. More »
Canada Dry and Lipton have been yellow-carded by referees at at Food and Drug Administration, who have warned the beverage makers of making unauthorized nutrient claims on their green tea drinks. More »
In spite of all the ads with coroners squeezing fat out of a smoker's diseased heart and all the taxes levied on tobacco products, the percentage of adults who smoke on a regular basis has held steady at just over 20% for the last five years, says a new report from the Centers for Disease Control. But that percentage can vary wildly depending on location, education, race and gender. More »
Bloomberg reports that one of the big companies behind airport full-body scanners has released a software update that replaces your misshapen nakedness with a generically proportioned, nondescript avatar. The software then indicates on the avatar where you should be searched. More »
Along with hotels, the food preparation industry may be the sector that relies the most on undocumented workers. A White House crackdown on employers of such workers has been in effect since April of last year is putting increased pressure and heightened consequences — including tighter scrutiny increased fines — for business owners who take the risk of hiring such workers. A San Diego restaurant owner is going all in to fight the regulation. He has been indicted by a federal grand jury for hiring illegal immigrants, but has entered a not guilty plea and kept the workers in question on the staff. More »
Even though other municipalities have tried — and failed — to enact laws regulating the bagginess and sagginess of their citizens' trousers, the mayor of Dublin, GA, is moving forward with his plan to sign an ordinance that would fine violators up to $200 for low-riding pants. More »
The notion of business travelers being forbidden from purchasing X-rated pay-per-view isn't anything new. The erotic offerings are — so we hear — more expensive than other titles and very few employers want to foot the bill for them. But Winona County, MN, doesn't just want to tell municipal employees not to order hotel porn; they don't even want them staying at hotels that offer smutty selections. More »
Deep inside, most homeowners despise their homeowners associations for their arbitrary rules and uncanny ability to send out nasty letters for the tiniest violations. More »
Maybe someday you'll slam your foot on the gas pedal to see how fast that Ford Ranger can really go and you'll catch the sirens in your rear-view mirror, only to wave off the patrol car and resume going way too fast just for the fun of it. More »
Last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a New York lawyer's claims that "ladies nights" at bars were unconstitutional because they forced men to pay more. The lawyer says he's going to appeal to the Supreme Court, but he admitted to the New York Daily News that the odds the court will agree to hear his case are "about the same as some pretty young lady paying my way on a date." More »
Sorry, small businesses, the much ballyhooed protections of the CARD Act do not cover your credit cards. Only consumer credit cards get safeguarded against the most punitive of the old interest rate and fee policies. No wonder credit card solicitations to small business owners have increased 256%, vs 29% for consumer credit cards - they're more profitable now. More »
Some cities have garnered a reputation for employing guerrilla methods to snag speeding motorists. Speed traps help keep drivers honest. But more importantly for the municipalities, they keep the money flowing. More »
Had the owner's of BATS BBQ in Rock Hill, SC, not attempted to file a trademark application for their logo (see image to the left), they probably wouldn't have drawn the attention of lawyers for DC Comics, who say the bat icon used in the logo is a little too similar to one of the many Batman logos they have already trademarked. More »
Many states no longer issue unemployment checks. You can receive your payments through direct deposit, or using a Visa or Mastercard-branded debit card. That's the state of affairs in Pennsylvania, where reader Sam lives. He tells Consumerist that this method would be less of a racket for banks and more useful for people on unemployment if there were any places other than fee-happy ATMs that actually accepted the darn things. More »
The Texas attorney general has advised Bally Total Fitness to send refunds to 1,000 customers it bombarded with false invoices, the Dallas Morning News reports. More »
The Transportation Department has served AirTran a $500,000 civil penalty for repeated failures to accommodate disabled travelers, reports Associated Press. The airline was also cited for not providing adequate responses to customers who complained, and for not properly filing complaints with the government. The biggest issue, however, was that it doesn't always provide wheelchairs to disabled passengers in a timely manner. AirTran says it's working on implementing a wheelchair tracking system at its hubs. More »
By proposing the assigning of letter grades onto cars to rank fuel efficiency, the Obama administration either wants to shame car manufacturers into making their cars more efficient or stop larger vehicles from getting into Ivy League schools. More »
Since New York is being eaten alive by bedbugs, the state government has stepped in to make landlords disclose a one-year history of bedbug infestations at properties to prospective tenants. More »
The FDA says the law that requires restaurant chains with more than 20 locations to post calorie counts also applies to other types of businesses, reports the Wall Street Journal. Specifically, movie theaters, airplanes, trains, food courts in grocery stores, and convenience stores are all considered chains and will soon have to start following the law. The agency hasn't made up its mind yet whether things like salad bars in grocery stores will have to fall in line. The FDA will announce official guidelines in December. More »
Add this to the list of reasons why you should think twice before moving to Yuma, Ariz., where the thermometer can hit 124 degrees: nearby Marine Corps radio signals can kill your garage door opener. More »
If you want to make headlines by breaking into a closed bar and re-opening it on your own without a liquor license, plan on spending 15 days in jail and paying a $160 fine for your fun. More »
Back in February, we wrote that American Airlines could be on the hook for up to $20 million over allegations the airlines made thousands of flights in jets containing potentially dangerous wiring. But the FAA went even farther than that figure, announcing today that it plans to fine American $24.2 million, more than double the amount of the previous record fine. More »
Consumer Reports Health is going to the White House next week, to speak directly with President Obama about health reform, and they want your help. Send in your questions, and they may become part of the interview. More »
As of yesterday's 3-2 SEC ruling, the little guy just got a little more power in the boardroom. When shareholders want to nominate people to the board, the company now has to include those names on the regular ballots passed out to everyone before the annual meeting, even if the company doesn't like them. More »
Fire alarms make you feel safe, but an Albany, Calif. fire chief says it's a false sense of security. Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, the chief says most people equip their homes with cheaper ionization alarms, which detect smoke via an electric current and can lead to false alarms (such as reacting to overcooked food) while missing genuine dangers until it's too late. The chief says people should opt for slightly more expensive photoelectric alarms, which use more accurate light beams to alert fire victims. More »
Average interest rates have hit a new 9-year high of 14.7%, and we have credit card reform to thank for that. Por-kay? Unable to keep soaking you on the backend with hidden fees, tricks, and traps, issuers now have to push their profit-taking to the fore. More »
In a heated dispute over how to handle a woman's estate, the son secretly set his iPhone to record a conversation that happened between him and the other members of his family days before she passed. The stepfather tried to get it tossed out by saying it violated the Wiretap act, but the case was dismissed and also lost on appeal. This has important implications for people who are interested in recording their customer service calls. More »
If you live in Seattle, make sure you don't plan any library outings between August 30th and September 6th, when all branches will be closed. As it did last year, the library system is shutting down services and not paying employees for a week to cut about $650,000 from its budget. Fortunately, you'll still be able to access several electronic services that week, including ebook checkout and online databases. More »
A lot of folks are rooting for the smart, fierce and uncompromising Elizabeth Warren to head up the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. And now the cowboy rappers have thrown their 10-gallon hats in the ring. More »
I've never tasted milk that contained the corpse of a dead mouse, so I can't say whether or not it would be noticeable, but a couple in Kentucky claim they drank three days' worth of moused-up milk they'd purchased at Sam's Club before ever noticing the rotting rodent inside. Now, as happens in these situations, they have filed a lawsuit. More »
Last week, we brought you the story of an Illinois town that rejiggered its zoning regulations to keep an upscale tattoo parlor from opening. This drew several jeers from readers for the village council that made the decision. And yet, there are several municipalities around the country that have effectively banned fast food and chain restaurants from opening within town limits, and there's barely a peep from dissenters. More »
Bringing together two of our favorite topics — lawsuits and chocolate — a new mom in New York City has filed a lawsuit against the chocolate store she says gave her the boot for attempting to nurse her child. More »
The National Association of Broadcasters and the Recording Industry Association of America, which have often bickered over royalties rules, have agreed that your iPhone and iPod need to have built-in FM radio capabilities via special microchips and want to push laws to make it happen. More »
Riding the bus is a relatively safe way to get from point A to B, but a new proposal under consideration by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would seek to make it even safer by requiring new motorcoaches — as opposed to municipal or school buses — to provide seat belts for all passengers on board. More »
The Food and Drug Administration is moving to pull ProAmatine, a blood pressure medication that's been available for 14 years and racked up a quarter billion in sales, because the manufacturer hasn't submitted a follow-up study that proves the drug is effective. More »
If you don't have health insurance, you might hear about a medical discount plan and think that it's an affordable alternative, but be careful. Some of the plans being sold don't lower your health care costs at all, and in some cases can even increase them. That's why the the FTC and 24 states have recently filed a total of 54 lawsuits against companies selling medical discount plans to people who don't have health insurance. More »
California's Attorney General, Jerry Brown, has filed a lawsuit that claims too many inflatable structures used at kids' parties come with high levels of lead in the vinyl—"sometimes dozens of times the federal limit," reports the New York Times. One of the defendants said the lawsuit was a "witch hunt," and warned that it would have a chilling effect on what the Times calls the "bounce-house industry." More »
Last summer, Central Coast Nutraceuticals settled a deceptive practices charge from Arizona's Attorney General by promising to pay $1.4 million in fines. Now the company, which peddles acai berry and colon cleansing products, has been forced to temporarily stop selling or marketing its wonder products completely under an injunction obtained yesterday by the FTC. More »
The Westfield Galleria in Roseville, California takes the comfort of its patrons seriously—so seriously, in fact, that it wants them to shut up and focus on shopping, or else ask for permission first if they want to talk about any topic that's not mall related. Last week, the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal found that the rule violated the state's constitution, so now mall shoppers can gab as much as they want to each other. More »
Did Disney's eternally overreacting duck mascot put the moves on a woman visiting Epcot Center a couple of years ago? That's what the woman claims happened; in her lawsuit, she says a park employee dressed as Donald Duck grabbed her breast and molested her, "then made gestures making a joke indicating he had done something wrong." She's asking for $50,000. More »
Dell is accused of providing altered and incomplete emails from among its top execs, the latest turn in a lawsuit that alleges the computer maker of selling and then covering up 11.8 defective PCs. More »
The village board of Libertyville, IL, hears about tattoo parlors and apparently envisions seedy, run-down places that stay open all hours of the night to service beer-swigging bikers and their leather-clad lady friends. And in order to keep this stereotype from being shattered, they recently changed their zoning laws to smash one businessman's dream. More »
Lowe's is proposing to settle in the tainted drywall class action lawsuit with gift cards. The gift cards will be $50, $250, or $2000. Never mind those who entire homes, way of life, and most of their possessions and electronics ruined or contaminated by the sulfur-emitting drywall. Here, how about a discount on a new showerhead? More »
Some experts claim that there's no connection between poor credit history and poor job performance. That doesn't stop employers from evaluating applicants based on their credit reports. The governor of Illinois signed a law this week prohibiting employers from hiring on the basis of credit checks...but there are some pretty big exceptions. More »
Avi recently went to his mailbox and found a notice from Philadelphia Gas Works warning him that he was going to have his account referred to a collection agency if he didn't pay the $0 past due balance on his bill. More »
Just because your dog mistakes a $100 bill for a chew toy, it doesn't mean you're out the cash. You can just take what's left of your mangled paper and send it to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing's Mutilated Currency Division, which will issue you a check for the amount you otherwise would have lost. More »
Consulting firms are telling banks to hone in on the financially precarious to sign back up for costly overdraft protection that will only further erode their bank account. Here are some quotes from their strategies: More »
As if it's not tough enough for an arcade to make a go of it in 2010, the owner of Beacon, NY's Retro Arcade Museum has to battle town laws that ban pinball. After a year and a half in business, officials shut down the pinball palace. More »
The FTC says a Toronto-based company called Internet Listing Service scammed thousands of U.S. consumers and small businesses by mailing invoices to them demanding payment for unnecessary domain registration services. The company was given a suspended judgment of over $4 million, based on "the total amount of consumer injury" caused, but in reality the people behind the scam have been ordered to pay $10,000 because that's all the money they have left. More »
We've never been to Las Vegas, but apparently there is a serious problem with giant hula hoops going on. According to AOL, the Las Vegas City Council is considering banning hula hooping on a five-block pedestrian mall called "The Fremont Street Experience." (Warning: link is annoying.) More »
The dancers at the Foxhole in Coschocton County, Ohio, are used to arriving at work to the sounds of protests from members of the nearby New Beginnings Ministries church. But the same couldn't quite be said for the churchgoers, who showed up for services on Sunday and were greeted by the sight of bikini-clad protesters. More »
A 36-year-old woman says she's planning on suing the city of Tavares, Florida, because its police force demanded her name for a "database" as she was leaving a children's water park last spring. She'd taken her 7-year-old son there for the third time that season, and on each visit, other parents complained that her wet t-shirt and bra look was offensive. As she was leaving, a police officer demanded her name, and arrested her when she refused. More »
Target gave $150,000. Best Buy chipped in $100,000. Companies supporting politicians or their political action committees isn't new. A quarter-million dollars for Minnesota Forward—a group that supports anti-gay rights candidates like Tom Emmer—might seem like a gay rights issue, but it's so much more. It represents the next frontier in consumer activism and a world where every purchase acts as a political statement. Join us inside as we explain. More »
Like it or not, advanced imaging technology (AIT)—capable of producing highly detailed pics of your naked body—is expanding rapidly throughout U.S. airports. Last month, there were at least 142 AIT units deployed in eleven airports, but by the end of the year that will jump to more than 450 nationwide, spread across at least forty airports (see full list below). The TSA has tried to downplay privacy issues by saying that the units won't save images, but that doesn't mean that they can't. In fact, the U.S. Marshals Service in Florida says they've got over 35,000 AIT scans of people saved. They also say that an AIT unit tested in the Washington, D.C. federal courthouse was sent back to the manufacturer with images still stored on it. More »
NFL retirees are unhappy that Electronic Arts used their likenesses and stats in Madden NFL 09 without paying for the rights to do so. The game didn't include the old-timer's names in order to run the end around on licensing fees, the class-action lawsuit alleges. EA also changed the players' numbers for an extra layer of protection. More »
Suing a company in small claims court is fun and easy and oftentimes the company won't even try to fight back. One thing you want to make sure to remember though is to look up the company's "registered agent" in the state where you are filing. If you don't serve this person with notice of the case, it could result in a dismissal. More »
Back in 2006, a Florida couple parked an RV in a Utah Walmart and shot and killed an intruder. Now the couple is suing Walmart, saying the company knew the creep was lurking about but didn't alert authorities, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. More »
Times are tough everywhere. Which means desperate people will consider taking jobs, like stripping or performing nude on a web cam, they wouldn't otherwise have considered. But the government in the UK doesn't want to encourage its citizens to find these types of sexy jobs and has banned a certain class of employers from advertising at tax-funded employment offices. More »
Remember the CARD Act, that shiny new law that's supposed to stop credit card issuers from hitting you with all kinds of nasty fees and force them to disclose all of their terms? Well, even if you do, it looks like the card issuers have forgotten all about it. They're working overtime to come up with a raft of new charges on things that aren't covered by the new law, like annual fees and cash advances. More »
The New York City Mayor's Office took part in its own stimulus program, apparently pumping $18,000 into liquor stores for unexplained booze binges. More »
A Bronx judge has ruled that saggy pants are not, in fact, illegal and do not constitute "Disorderly Conduct." The ruling comes in a case where a gentleman was issued a summons because he was wearing "his pants down below his buttocks exposing underwear [and] potentially showing private parts," says Gothamist. More »
Viagra for kids? That sounds... well, wrong. But apparently, low doses of the erectile dysfunction drug can help children stricken by a rare lung disorder. It could also earn Pfizer a six-month extension on the patent for its blue-chip brand. More »
A homeowner in Florida was awarded $187,000 in legal fees from a years-long court battle over the right to park a pick-up truck in his driveway. Now the homeowners association is going to have to pick up the tab for $300,000 in fees. More »
A new class action suit filed in California takes issue with how the iPad shuts off automatically if it overheats. In particular, however, the suit claims that the marketing phrase "reading on the iPad is just like reading a book" is misleading, and that Apple is therefore engaging in fraud and misleading consumers. This is great news for me, because I was thinking of suing Apple for not providing dustjackets for iBookstore titles but my friends told me I shouldn't. More »
Something is amiss with the water in Brockton, MA. No, it doesn't smell or taste funny — it's just costing some of the town's citizens one hell of a lot of money. In fact, some residential customers have been charged as much as $100,000 for one month's worth of H20. More »
The FTC recently amended the Free Credit Reports Rule to require "certain disclosures to help consumers distinguish between ads for free credit reports that often require them to buy credit monitoring or other services." More »
A few months ago, in an effort to not contribute to the puppy mills and kitty factories of the world, San Francisco began mulling over the possibility of forbidden canine and feline sales within city limits. But, as happens when the discussion turns to the critters of the world, that ban has now grown to include just about everything you would ever want to even consider having as a pet. More »
Even though more than a dozen states and Washingon, D.C., continue to square off with the federal government regarding the legality of medical marijuana, the folks at the Veterans Affairs Dept. has decided not to penalize veterans who use the drug in states where its permitted for medicinal use. More »
A tech-savvy 12-year-old Minnesota girl reported a sexual assault by her mom's ex-boyfriend by using her iPod to contact a friend through Facebook. More »
After a 2008 court ruling found that the creator of the Bratz line of dolls had stolen the idea from Mattel (or rather, from himself, when he was working for Mattel), all Bratz products were supposed to be destroyed, and Mattel had the right to take over the brand and do whatever it wanted with it. A judge put the mass annihilation on hold, and today an appeals court overturned the initial ruling, meaning your local toy store may soon be carrying the next generation of the once-popular dolls. More »
The bill to extend and restore unemployment benefits to out of work Americans now only has to make its way to the White House after Congress passed the legislation by a vote of 272 to 152. More »
While L.A. has been cracking down in a harsh way on medical marijuana dispensaries, its much cooler cousin up north, Oakland, is opening its arms to embrace the demon weed. Yesterday, the Oakland City Council approved an ordinance that could take pot-growing out of your basement and into legitimate commercial factories. More »
Sears paid out $1 million to settle a civil lawsuit with six California counties that accused the retailer of charging customers more for products than the advertised prices. More »
After months of debate and compromises that left some members of both parties less than thrilled, President Obama signed the financial reform bill into law this morning, which means that all problems with all banking is fixed forever... right? More »
Next time you're in line at the grocery store and you roll your eyes at the person with two carts full of items refusing to leave the 10-items-or-fewer line, you might be in trouble with the law — at least if you live in Elmhurst, Illinois. Officials of the Chicago suburb are looking into finding a way of putting an end to the practice by legal means. More »
Remember the Downtown Dollars that Ardmore, PA sold to its citizens this year? Sara Lepro at American Banker looked at that and other "homegrown currency" experiments happening across the country, which are intended to stimulate the local economy and take advantage of "a growing 'localism' movement." More »
Online news site The Daily Beast is apparently tired of this whole "floundering economy" thing, so it got more than a dozen economists and historians to come together and issue a manifesto yesterday calling on the U.S. government to "reboot America." By the end of the day, the number of experts supporting the manifesto increased to more than 40. They argue that the government has to help return lost purchasing power to the unemployed and must use tax cuts and stimulus to boost overall demand, or we'll never make it out of this slump. More »
Jeff Sovern at Public Citizen has a simple message for the Washington bureaucrats who will soon create the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency: Put Elizabeth Warren in charge and build the agency in her image.
Nestlé is the latest company to slap some nutrients (or in this case probiotics) in a product, call it "functional food," and market it to shoppers as a healthy and smart product. Last week, the FTC got the company to agree to stop claiming that its chocolate Boost Kid Essentials—which comes with a straw lined with probiotic bacteria (mmm delicious!)—will do things like protect them from diarrhea and improve school attendance rates. The FTC says the claims aren't substantiated with adequate scientific research. More »
It's not a crime to owe money, and debtors prisons have been abolished — but that doesn't mean that people are not being routinely arrested and put in jail for failing to pay debts. A few weeks ago the Minneapolis Star-Tribune published an investigative piece about arrest warrants being issued for people with less than $100 in debt, many of whom didn't even know that a collector had taken legal action against them. Now, following a letter by Sen. Al Franken (noted hater of the Comcast, NBC merger), the FTC has agreed to look into the issue. More »
Wondering how long you'll be standing in the security line, staring at other people's luggage choices? The TSA has an app for you that relies on crowd-sourced data to give you estimated wait times at a variety of airports. More »
In the Official Kohl's Shoplifters' Handbook there is a passage that requires all certified members to pack hypodermic needles to threaten authorities with when caught. More »
Yesterday, we wrote about a New York City woman whose car was impounded and who was fined thousands of dollars after her nephew used her car to — horror of horrors — pick up an abandoned air-conditioner from a city curb. Good news: Both she and her nephew have had the ridiculous fines erased. More »
Not surprisingly, in the wake of yesterday's decision by a New York court to scrap the ridiculous FCC rule against on-air profanity, the not-at-all-overprotective folks at the Parents Television Council are raising their hands in the air and asking, "What about the children?" More »
Walking the sidewalks of just about any city — especially one like New York where apartment turnover is at a high level — you're likely to find at least one or two chairs, shelves, mirrors, dressers, etc., that are in passable, if not pristine, condition. But be warned before you go putting that side table in the back of a cab — it could end up costing you a lot of money. More »
A reader claims he emailed BP and the White House on April 28th with the very method put into place to seal the gushing oil well on July 10th, and all he ever got back were boilerplate form letter replies. More »
The next time Bono drops the F-bomb while accepting an award or Janet Jackson's nipple makes a cameo appearance at the Super Bowl, broadcasters won't have to worry about facing mammoth fines from the FCC. A federal appeals court has said "f@ck this sh&t" to the controversial ban. More »
Bus passengers usually trust that the person behind the wheel is who they say he is, because who would want to wear a uniform and drive around for hours for no pay? You know what they say about those who assume, though. Their bus ends up getting crashed into a tree by a 19-year-old pretending to be a bus driver. More »
The only thing more certain than stinky Tylenol this year is that there would be a lawsuit from consumers at some point, and now it's happened. Five times, in fact. They've been filed against Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit and seek class action status, and accuse J&J/McNeil of failing to properly recall the bad drugs and of failing to adequately compensate consumers. More »
In an effort to cut down on the number of plastic bottles turning up in its dumps — and streets and parks —- the town of Concord, Mass., voted in April to ban the sale of bottled water in their town. But late last week, the state's Attorney General took a big gulp of her bottle of Evian and said "not so fast." More »
That stink coming from your medicine cabinet may just be Tylenol, Motrin or Benadryl, according to the latest recall from Johnson & Johnson. The company is recalling 21 additional lots of drugs, including batches of Tylenol, Children's Tylenol, Benadryl and Motrin. The company says "the risk of adverse medical events is remote." More »
Of all the feelings one gets while walking the aisles of a Walmart, sexual excitement rarely factors into the spectrum. Unless you were the guy in Louisiana Walmart who was arrested for touching himself while gawking at a young boy in the store's electric department. More »
Russell wants to know: if a company cold-calls you to sell you things when you're part of the federal Do Not Call registry, and insists that the call is totally legal because they've "partnered with" a company that you do business with, does that make it okay? No. No, it does not. More »
Bankers are planning to tighten the purse strings when it comes time to donate to political campaigns as a way of letting elected representatives know they're not too happy about the whole financial reform thing. More »
If you have apply or renew passport on your to-do list, better put it on your "done" list this week if you want to save money. Starting July 13, new higher passport fees go into effect. More »
A jury in California has slapped Skilled Healthcare Inc. with $671 million in damages for a four-year-old lawsuit that alleged that company did not provide the required 3.2 nursing hours per day, per patient. More »
If you're gonna get kicked in the pants, wouldn't you at least like to know why? Well, American Express is the least clear in how they communicate their penalty interest rate policies, a new Card Hub survey finds. More »
A woman who was arrested last November during a screening of whatever Twilight movie was in theaters at the time has filed suit against the movie chain. She says that she only filmed two short sequences, the opening credits and a moment when her "favorite actor" took off his shirt. Wisely, she does not say in her lawsuit whether she's Team Beefcake or Team Emo, or my niece would possibly go ballistic. More »
Last week, Massachusetts Rep. Bill Delahunt introduced a bill called the "Main Street Fairness Act," which is a stupid name for a bill. The text of the bill hasn't been released yet, but if passed, it would presumably set up a process where sales tax could be collected on purchases made over the Internet. As anyone who has shopped online over the past decade is probably aware, this has been an ongoing and thorny issue, since billions in online sales tax would provide a welcome revenue stream for struggling states. More »
A Brooklyn man is suing the makers of Yoo-hoo, the weird chocolate-flavored drink that's been around for 90 years, over their claims that the drink is as healthy as it is delicious. Although actually, if the company would change its description to "as healthy as it is delicious," they'd probably be able to avoid all lawsuits: "Look, we told you it wasn't healthy." More »
Congratulations to BP and all the others responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. You've officially managed to screw up every U.S. state along the Gulf of Mexico. Texas had been the only of the five states bordering the greasy body of water to be untainted by the spill, but that changed over the weekend when the first batch of tar balls washed up on the shore of the Lone Star State. More »
Last month Eliza told us about a rabid groundhog that was stalking the streets of Philadelphia. She called multiple government agencies, but none of them would do anything about it. It took a vigilante to set things right and defeat the crazed beast. More »
How did America's birthday become synonymous with blowing sh*t up? We assume it has something to do with Francis Scott Key — or maybe it's just that a lot of people think blowing sh*t up is really, really cool. But you probably don't want to spend July 4th in jail, so you may want to learn a little about the hodgepodge of state fireworks laws — or just skip the DIY stuff and let someone else burst their bombs. More »
Sara thought she was being a good tenant. She moved cities and rather than pay the stiff penalties for breaking the lease, she continued to pay rent on the old place. She even turned off the electricity before she left. Ever since she told the old landlord she won't be renewing the lease, he's been going all aggro on her on the phone, demanding payments for electricity she didn't use, insinuating she's a criminal and is still living there, and generally being a jerk. Sara wants to extricate herself from his clutches but is afraid for her $700 security deposit. What can she do? More »
Happy Fourth of July weekend! To help you celebrate Independence Day, which includes independence from the government dole, a Senate filibuster has successfully prevented unemployment benefits from being extended for 1.3 million out of work citizens. More »
I've never smoked a cigarette in my life, but I sure inhaled my fair share of my mom's, dad's and stepfather's tobacco when I was a child. Surely one of my earliest developed motor skills was learning how to roll down the window in our Chevy Nova. Now a bill under consideration by the New York State Assembly seeks to put an end to such behavior by fining adults who light up with a child in the vehicle. More »
We're guessing the government has quarterly quotas for number of sites pushing pirated movies it shuts down, because on the last day of June the feds swooped in and shivered the timbers of several sites that had been allowing cheapos to not spend $12 to see Jonah Hex and other fine Hollywood offerings. More »
It doesn't look like it's going to make President Obama's July 4 deadline, but the financial reform bill did manage to squeak through the House of Representatives on Wednesday with a final vote of 237-192. More »
Seem Dell has a hell all of its own. Newly unsealed court documents show that Dell sold computers knowing they would go kaput. The documents reveal that Dell sold nearly 12 million Optiplex machines between 2003-2005 with leaky capacitors that caused problems in 97% of the cases in over three years. Leaky capacitors lead to device failure, and can even cause the computer to become ablaze with fire. More »
First-time homebuyers looking to snag the up to $8,000 income tax credit that expires today could get a reprieve. If you already signed the purchase contract by April 30th but haven't closed yet, you will have 3-months to seal the deal, if a bill passed by Congress yesterday makes it through the Senate, which it seems it will. More »
Forget about the Nicolas Cage movie Gone in 60 Seconds. A pair of swift-moving Arizona bandits made off with $9,400 in Apple Store goods in the time it takes your iTunes to boot up. More »
The Department of Homeland Security's anti-terrorist airplane protection services are so ironclad that even a sneaky 6-year-old Ohio girl couldn't make it through the dragnet. The feds were on to her and stuck her on the No Fly List. Possibly because she planned on asking for extra peanuts, getting up and going potty several times during a flight and maybe even kicking the seat in front of her. More »
The kind of "innovation" your Internet service provider (ISP) is fighting so passionately to protect won't lead to faster or better service, says Ryan Singel at Wired. To ISPs, innovation means finding ways to generate more profit without making further investments in infrastructure. Yeah, it's a deliberately provocative statement, but take a look at the list he provides for what ISPs have done to innovate in recent years versus what other companies have done. More »
If you're having trouble getting a signal on your smartphone, the White House feels your pain. The Obama administration has endorsed an FCC plan to nearly double the bandwidth available for wireless devices by freeing up additional wireless spectrum. But don't expect blazing speeds or better signals overnight. The plan will take several years to implement, require congressional approval, and is tied to a bandwidth auction to get the carriers to pay for the right to use the spectrum. More »
After coming to the conclusion that farmers have gone a little hog-wild with their use of antimicrobials — not to cure animals of disease, but to spur animal growth — the FDA has kindly asked them to cut it out because it's just going to make the rest of us sicker. More »
Almost anyone who has ever visited — let alone actually joined — an online dating site knows going in, or quickly learns, to take everything they read and see with a grain of salt. A really, really big grain of salt. But the recent case of a convicted killer, awaiting trial for yet another murder, who posted a profile on Match.com has gotten some people talking about adding regulations to these sites. More »
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to expand, despite BP's boasting about the number of barrels they pull out of the water each day. Over the weekend, the crude washed up for the first time on the shores of mainland Mississippi, driving away the already scant number of tourists. More »
If you were planning on putting your kids through college based on your foreknowledge that Toy Story 3 was going to rock the box office, you'll need to do your gambling on the black market, because Congress has banned Hollywood box office futures trading. More »
The FDIC has announced the results of a two-year pilot program designed to help banks offer alternatives to payday loans that would be "safe, affordable and feasible." Under the test program, participating banks offered loans of up to $2,500 at maximum interest rates of 36% — instead of the 400% offered by some payday lenders. More »
Some shady auto dealers are known to fake financial docs to get customers approved for loans they can't afford. They refer to senior citizens as "people with oxygen tanks" and even straight up steal money from their ATM account. So, good thing that they can afford good lobbyists, because in the final hours they succeeded in making it so the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau doesn't apply to them. More »
Following an L.A. Times report that revealed the California welfare debit card program allows benefits recipients to withdraw cash at ATMs at casinos, state officials disclosed that over $1.8 million in taxpayer cash had been withdrawn on the gaming floors of casinos in just the last eight months. More »
When we first wrote about the US Postal Service's plan to put an end to Saturday deliveries, only 35% of the 7,000 readers polled thought it would be a hassle to their way of life. However, many commenters wanted to know what this would mean for deliveries of their precious Netflix DVDs. Yesterday, they got their answer. More »
Think the arbitration clause in a contract is unfair? Go ahead and contest it! Of course, you shouldn't expect to win, since the Supreme Court has just ruled that it's just fine for the arbitrator to decide whether the clause is fair. More »
A new study released by Rep. Weiner shows that Yankees and Mets fans are bleeding more than just their team colors, they're also getting gouged with some of the highest online ticketing fees in baseball. More »
As always happens when the government puts tons of cash up for grabs, scam-happy people will line up to take advantage of it. And a new report says that nearly 10% of the 15,000 folks caught scamming the government for the recent home buyer tax credit were doing it from behind bars. More »
A couple weeks back we wrote about how the Dept. of Transportation was considering a possible ban on peanuts on airplanes and what resulted was easily one of the site's more divisive debates. Now, as the DOT and FAA continue to mull over this plan — and consider other options — the regulators say they want to hear from you, the citizens of these United States of America. More »
About 10% of respondents in our informal poll yesterday about health insurance said they pay their own premiums, and according to a new poll from Kaiser Survey, three quarters of those people just faced a premium increase of 20% on average. The recent hikes have prompted the White House to say it will "sternly warn industry executives" today that insurers shouldn't try to use the new health care law as an excuse to gouge customers, according to the New York Times. More »
As we reported over the weekend, the NY State Legislature was considering a proposal to increase the state's already high $2.75/pack tax on cigarettes by $1.60. And last night, the ayes had it over the coughing and hacking nos, making New York the most expensive place to smoke in the U.S. More »
The ever-vigilant folks at the National Pork Board are out to put an end to the sale of Radiant Farms' canned unicorn meat. But it's not because they want to stop the slaughter of the one-horned flying horses, it's because they say the product infringes on their "other white meat" trademark. More »
The NYT says that a local independent supermarket in Queens has an interesting way of dealing with shoplifters. If they catch you, the store's security guards take your ID, photograph you and then fine you. If you refuse to give up the money (usually $400, according to the manager), the workers threaten to post your picture and call the police. More »
If you were planning on picking up a sturdy switchblade or gravity knife from one of the Home Depots in NYC for your next home improvement project, or because you wanted to stab someone, you should note that they're no longer available. That's because last week, the Manhattan District Attorney's office persuaded that store and 13 other retailers to stop selling such knives. They're generally illegal in New York, and the retailers have agreed to surrender their inventory and forfeit any profits they made from illegal knife sales over the past four years. More »
If you want to be a passionate lover, or at least a noticeably hyper one, of course you should drink a lot of coffee before hitting the sheets. That's just common sense. But the FDA says that a specially marketed aphrodisiac coffee, Magic Power Coffee, can interfere with prescription drugs and cause a dramatic loss of blood pressure. More »
Though British Petroleum's own CEO has made public statements like "The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into [the Gulf of Mexico] is tiny in relation to the total water volume," and the always classic "The environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest," a recently released internal document shows that BP's initial estimates of the ongoing oil spill were outright apocalyptic. More »
Sunscreen makers can say almost anything they want about their product's sun protection factor or water fighting ability because the FDA's sunscreen regulations are a just a teensy bit late. Well, they're actually thirty-two years late, but the FDA swears that they're going to publish final regulations by October. Except maybe not. So what can consumers do in the meantime? More »
Cigarettes may cost more than $10 per pack in New York under the state's latest plan to close a $9 billion budget gap. In New York City, the tax alone on a pack of cigarettes would rise to $5.85. And cigarettes aren't the only carcinogens set for a tax bump under the proposal. More »
As part of its never-ending battle of the bulge, New York's health police have found a new target: bake sales that schools use as fund raising events. The sales have already been limited to once a month, and barred during school hours. Now, the city's Health Department has warned parents that they need to look for other ways to raise dough. More »
Banks are mad they can't just automatically charge you a $35 overdraft anymore if you happen to try to buy a candy bar without enough cash in your account. Newly enacted legislation says they have to get you to opt-in to such overdraft programs. So, what they're doing is renaming the overdraft programs something else, making them sound awesome, and then blitzing your mailbox and inbox with up-sells. Some banks are even calling people up! More »
Just in case students don't slog through college with enough debt hanging over them, their colleges and universities have cut semi-secret deals with banks to share personal info meant to market credit to them afterward. The Huffington Post says Bank of America has such deals with 700 schools. More »
Sad news for the world of gettin-it-on today: A drug that had been intended as a female analog to Viagra has not only not shown promise in tests, but has actually demonstrated some quite non-sexy side effects. More »
Eliza writes us about her boss and others who who were stalked by a rabid groundhog in Philadelphia like something out of Predator. They called the city's animal control department and were juggled around and dismissed. More »
New rules announced today will take some of the sting out of those penalties that hit you when you don't pay your credit card bill on time. Most fees will be capped at $25, regardless of your balance, and can be much lower in some cases. If your minimum payment is $10 and you're late, your late fee can't go above $10. More »
Enrollment in for-profit colleges like the University of Phoenix, DeVry University, and Kaplan University—Gawker calls them fake colleges—tripled in the past decade, and has become such a fast-growing segment of the education market that some members of Congress think it needs better oversight. More »
Crafty credit card issuers aren't going to let a little thing like the law get in the way of their profits. Nope, they're finding creative ways to get around the pro-consumer CARD act and maintain their grip on your pocketbook. More »
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has banned one of the biggest food inspector groups in the nation from operating in China, reports the New York Times, because of conflict of interest concerns. It turns out the Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) was using employees of a Chinese government agency to inspect Chinese government-owned farms, which sort of misses the point of independent certification entirely. More »
For decades, the Thomas' English Muffins have been bragging about the tasty nooks and delicious crannies of its breakfasts breads. They're such a well-regarded company secret that only seven people at the company know the recipe. And now that one of those dudes is trying to jump ship to Hostess, it's lawsuit time. More »
After getting a verbal boot in the butt from the U.S. Coast Guard about their lackadaisical attitude toward cleaning up their mess in the Gulf of Mexico, British Petroleum has come back with a slightly more aggressive schedule for mopping up the disaster. More »
Now you can sit hitting refresh all day instead of looking out the window every 5 minutes to see if the red flag on the mailbox is down: the White House has ordered the government to switch to direct deposits for all payments to consumers. More »
After scaring Walgreens out of the genetic-testing business, the FDA has now decided to crack down on the entire industry, and will be subjecting DNA tests to the same rules that it applies to medical devices such as blood-glucose meters. More »
Airlines routinely overbook passengers, resulting in passengers getting bumped and having their travel plans disrupted. Currently, you can get the full ticket price if you are bumped, or 2x the ticket if you're not provided alternative transportation within a certain time frame to the next stop, up to a certain cap level. Newly proposed regulations would increase the amount passengers could get, but it's not as simple as that. Airline expert Elliott has delved into the report to find out what's being proposed: More »
While some SEC employees were up to their eyeballs in porn during office hours in recent years, apparently some have continued to do their job, as Dell announced today that it is nearing a settlement to a prolonged SEC investigation that could cost the computer company upwards of $100 million. More »
Why does financial-reform advocate, Harvard professor and overall force of nature Elizabeth Warren want a Consumer Financial Reform Agency? It's simple: "We stopped exploding toasters. We're going to do the same with exploding mortgages and crazy credit cards." More »
If you are victimized by corporate behavior and asked to testify before a legislative body in order to tell your story and help get a pro-consumer bill passed, it can be really scary. You only have a few minutes to make your case. Are you gonna choke it, or clinch it? Just follow these 15 tips I just learned in a Consumers Union Activist Summit workshop: More »
The city that brought the world the "blunt" has decided to chill out on folks who toke. As of yesterday, possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana has been downgraded to a relatively minor offense. More »
It's summer (at least in the northern hemisphere), which means people of all shapes and sizes wearing all shapes and sizes of bathing suit. That also means that some of these people in swimsuits will also attempt to enter stores and restaurants. But now, even in places with historically liberal views on showing skin, there's a backlash against sporting a bikini anywhere other than the beach. More »
Texas' Attorney General Greg Abbott is going after Bally Total Fitness for the fraudulent "past due" scheme it was using to trick former customers into re-upping with the gym. The AG office says that the gym mailed more than 11,000 fake notices to former customers between last summer and March 2010, and at least 1,000 Texans fell for it and paid the fees. More »
If you thought the FDA had the power to recall dangerous food already, you'd be mistaken. Apparently, they need to "coax" the company into it. Changing this and increasing the agency's budget are among the changes recommended by a new report by The Institute of Medicine, says Reuters. More »
A recent class-action lawsuit against Land O'Lakes alleges that the farmers' co-operative was part of a price-fixing conspiracy within the the ovo-industrial complex to keep egg prices artificially high. According to court documents, conspirators worked toward having fewer total hens laying in the United States, leading to more money per egg for everyone, and a nice violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. More »
Many small businesses like to have police officers as clientele because their presence is a deterrent to would-be criminals, but a Portland, Ore. coffee shop owner threw a cop out of his shop because he feared the officer would start a game of Taser tag. More »
Hey people with Medicare, you're about to become a little more attractive to scammers. That's because this week the government will start sending out its one-time tax free rebate checks to those of you who have already hit the donut hole gap in your Medicare coverage. The main thing to know, advises Medicare, is that you don't need to provide any information to anyone to get the rebate—it's automatic. More »
As the merger of Worst Company In America 2010 and only-worth-watching-for-Biggest-Loser network NBC continues to limp forward through the bureaucratic maze, a California Congresswoman hinted not so subtly yesterday that the cable giant had contacted her in a not-exactly-professional manner. More »
Among the new regulations under consideration by the FAA, there's one that hasn't gotten much press, but which we have a feeling might be something that will get at least a few travelers' blood up — banning peanuts from airplanes. More »
Your driver's license could start getting worn down a lot starting in December . That's because a whole bunch of businesses will soon be required to ask you for your ID, everyone from your dentist to your car dealer. More »
Lest you think nickle-and-dime fees for services that were once free is the sole purview of the airline industry, a new report in USA Today claims that the more and more physicians in the U.S. are going the route of charging money for services they say aren't covered by health insurance. More »
There's a growing movement in the United States, especially in coastal communities, to curb the use of plastic shopping bags. In fact, both San Francisco and North Carolina's Outer Banks are among those communities that have already passed laws forbidding plastic bags. A statewide ban made it to the State Assembly level in California and at least one politician in Seattle is pushing for an end to their use. More »
On Thursday BP checked its mail and got a love letter from its not-so-secret admirer, the Center for Biological Diversity, notifying the spill-a-riffic British oil giant that it would be sued under the Clean Water Act. More »
Earlier this week, we got word that the Department of Transportation was considering requiring airlines to offer more cash to passengers that get bumped from flights. Turns out those rumors were true, and were just one piece of a package of changes proposed by the DOT. If the new regulations go into effect, airlines would be required to play straight about baggage fees and fare prices, would have to allow no-penalty cancellations within 24 hours of ticket purchases, and would have to add new contingency plans for long tarmac delays. More »
Ohio cops have been granted superpowers by the state's supreme court, which has ruled that officers needn't bother with such needless trivialities as radar guns. A visual estimate of speed is all that's necessary to give a driver a ticket, the court decided in a 5-1 vote. More »
The New York Times has an article about Justin Kurtz, the college student who angered the owner of T&J Towing by creating a Facebook page about the company and who is now fighting a $750k defamation lawsuit. That sort of lawsuit—the kind meant to intimidate an opponent into silence—is called a "strategic lawsuit against public participation," or Slapp. Now two Representatives are sponsoring a bill that would create a federal anti-Slapp law to protect consumers from vengeful businesses. More »
Among the chief complaints we get from readers about their broadband providers is that the lightning-fast speeds advertised by the ISP are far from the reality of what they're getting through their modem. So in an effort to parse truth from lip service, the FCC is about to begin a nationwide test of residential broadband speeds — and they want your help. More »
Advanced Call Center Technologies tried to collect $200 on a disputed debt from Allen Jones a few years ago. Part of the company's advanced technology is its innovative voicemail strategy, where its employees leave wildly offensive, racist messages for people. Jones sued the company, and last week the jury awarded him $50k for mental anguish and $1.5 million in punitive damages. More »
Nicolas Chartier, the movie producer who was banned from the Oscars for sending nastygrams about Avatar, and more recently, told a critic, "you're a moron who believes stealing is right. I hope your family and your kids end up in jail," is nothing if not consistent. Chartier has made good on his earlier threat to sue people who downloaded copies of The Hurt Locker, by filing a suit against 5,000 anonymous downloaders in Washington, D.C. More »
Do you like farts? Documents and depositions unearthed by ProPublica and the Sarasota Harold-Tribune show exchanges between homebuilder WCI Communities and drywall distributor Banner that reveal the sulfur-emitting drywall problem was known as far back as 2006, and yet customers and authorities were not notified. In one deposition, a Banner executive refuses to admit that sulfur-stinking drywall might bother others, seeing as he himself, on certain occasions, enjoys the sweet aroma of another man's butt gas: More »
Lastmonth, InformationWeek filed a Freedom of Information request with the FCC and the FTC for complaints made about the iPhone in the past year. Although the breakdown of complaints is interesting, what I found most striking was that in a nation of over 11 million iPhone owners, less than 600 complaints were filed in the past 14 months*, and some of those were for other Apple products. If you have a legitimate grievance with a company, you might have a much better chance of being heard by the FCC or FTC than you think. More »
A NY hospital has been cleared in a lawsuit after a kidney transplant patient developed cancer and died after receiving an organ from someone who had the disease but had not yet been diagnosed. More »
You know an industry has hit the big time when labor unions decide it's time to organize the workers. So, it looks like California's medical marijuana workers are about to reach new highs now that the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 in San Jose has begun organizing local pot purveyors. Here's the big question, though: How long before they start showing up to picket non-union shops with a giant inflatable bong? More »
If you have a lot of time on your hands, you could probably read through the House and Senate versions of the financial reform bills, and get some idea of how each one addresses consumer financial protection. Or, you could just hope that a consumer lawyer would do it for you, and then summarize his findings in a tidy PowerPoint presentation. Guess what? More »
First BP told us 1,000, then 5,000, and now a joint federal and independent research task force estimates that 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil were spewing into the Gulf since the crisis began, NYT reports. If the numbers are right, then we're talking about as much as 30 million gallons. That would be more than 3x the amount from the Valdez disaster. More »
A couple Senators are Voltroning to introduce legislation that would let authorities track identities of prepaid cell phone owners. Anyone who's seen The Wire knows criminals thrive off of pre-paids. More »
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has released the names of the top manufacturers of stinky, dangerous drywall, which emits high levels of hydrogen sulfide (the source of its stinkiness). According to the agency, drywall from the manufacturers, all based in China, emitted hydrogen sulfide at levels up to 100x greater than samples from non-Chinese manufacturers. More »
Looking to make brownies that can be stored in a hot warehouse, dropped out of an airplane, dragged through the mud, left out with bugs and vermin and still be eaten 3 years later? Then you should check out this 26-page PDF from the Pentagon. More »
Police in Oregon say a trigger-happy man who witnessed an iPhone mugging shot at the thieves' getaway car as the got away. Being that life is not Grand Theft Auto IV, the cops busted the guy. More »
Lead has a deservedly bad reputation when it comes to human health and development, but because it's classified as a heavy metal it will always be kind of awesome. Well, to me. Pesticide, not so much. If you dislike ingesting either type of toxin, you might be interested in a new study being released today by the Government Accountability Office that found trace amounts of "lead and other contaminants" in every sample of 40 health supplements tested. More »
A woman is suing the TSA after she says she was forced to take off her $24,000 Rolex to pass through security, and when she went to retrieve it, it had mysteriously vanished. More »
Bloomberg is reporting that the Federal Reserve will probably transfer record earnings exceeding $70 billion into the US Treasury. The income is coming from assets that include mortgage-backed securities, says the Congressional Budget Office. More »
The NFL is an association of 32 separate businesses rather than one giant corporation with 32 branches, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, preventing the league from getting antitrust law protections it wanted. The suit originated from hatmaker American Needle, which the NFL dissed in favor of an exclusive deal with Reebok. American Needle said it was shut out thanks to a collaboration between the teams. More »
Kirsten Gillibrand, a senator from New York, is apparently unsatisfied with the CPSC's pledge to implement a voluntary ban of drop-side cribs. Gillibrand plans to introduce legislation this week that would outlaw the sale of drop-side cribs and ban them from daycare centers and hotels. Earlier this month, the CPSC said that this crib design has killed at least 32 infants and toddlers since 2000, that over 7 million drop-side cribs have been recalled since 2005. More »
AT&T has settled a class action suit by providing codes that unlock any phones that were bound to AT&T. That includes any phones but that pesky iPhone, which is bound by an exclusivity agreement that lasts til 2012 but may or may not have already been renegotiated. More »
While Walgreens may have voluntarily chosen not to sell home genetic testing kits in the face of an FDA investigation, its action has brought attention to the entire for-profit testing industry, and others may not have the luxury to quietly shut down on their own. A congressional committee is looking into the business, and could end up regulating the industry. More »
Three companies that made claims that they could help consumers reduce their credit card interest rates — and then charged fees of up to $1,590 — have been shut down by the Federal Trade Commission. “The last thing debt-ridden consumers need is to be deluged by illegal robocalls - especially when all the calls are offering is a scam,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. More »
The new Consumer Financial Protection agency will be a place you can go to with your complaints and they will be taken seriously, the White House said this afternoon during a conference call in which Consumerist took part. While, "It's not totally worked out who's going to be manning the 1-800 number," said senior economic adviser Austan Goolsbee, More »
Apropos of the blow dealt to Wall Street excess by the financial reform bill just passed by the Senate, here's another piece of Wall Street excess that should probably get regulated. Business cards. They've gone totally off the rails. As my favorite scene from American Psycho shows, we must rein in these out-of-control practices before more kittens get stuffed into ATMS.
As we all know, merchants are generally not supposed to mandate minimum credit card purchases. It's a violation of the merchant agreements they sign with the credit card companies. (For more info, check out this article.) The proposed finance bill, however, may legitimize those handwritten signs if it ends up passing. More »
Now that the Senate has passed the financial reform bill, it's off to non-smoke-filled rooms, where it will go into a Blendtec with the version passed by the House last year. CNNMoney.com sifted through all 1,600 pages of the bill and came up with a handy cheat sheet explaining what's actually likely to change when this thing becomes a law. More »
The North Carolina Department of Revenue wants to hit up Amazon for detailed info about purchases by residents of the state, but Amazon is fighting back in federal court, and now has won over the American Civil Liberties Union as a tag-team partner, WRAL of North Carolina reports. More »
Despite opposition from most Republicans and a couple of liberal Democrats, the Senate today reached the 60 votes needed to block a filibuster threat, clearing the way to bring the financial reform bill to a final vote. In the 60-to-40 vote, Democrats were joined by three Republicans, including freshman Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts. More »
A woman in Florida got her driver's license in the mail only to find that she apparently lived on "Eat Ass" street. Her entire street address is printed as "Eat Ass Englewood, FL 34223," thus raising the question of how exactly they mailed the license to her. More »
Remember the recalled liquid Tylenol and other children's medicines last month? Or the stinky drugs that were recalled back in January? Or the children's Tylenol that was recalled last September? The FDA remembers, which is probably why it's "conducting a company-wide investigation of McNeil Consumer Healthcare's drug manufacturing practices to determine whether similar problems exist throughout the company." Also, a date has now been set (May 27) for the House Committee hearing where the CEO and chairman of parent company Johnson & Johnson are expected to testify. More »
BoingBoing relays an entertaining name-calling tirade from Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier, who responds with a vengeance to a writer who told him he'd boycott his company Voltage Picture's films because it's suing people who illegally downloaded the film. More »
Groupon is a daily deal sort of website, but the reason it's on Consumerist today is because of how well it communicated some recent changes to its Terms of Service agreement. Consumerist reader Pureboy sent in a copy of the email he recently received where the website explained the changes in plain English, with examples. More »
The president and a vice-president for CTIA, a lobbying organization for the wireless industry, spoke recently with CNET about why they think the FCC should leave their members alone. The vice-president, Chris Guttman-McCabe, is a lawyer and as such his answers are useless. President Steve Largent, however, actually has a couple of candid moments during the interview. More »
A woman has sued her wireless provider for $600,000 for outing her as a cheater to her husband. After the they added internet and TV services to the woman's previously single-user cellphone bill, the wireless company began sending the husband a unified bill, which included several hours long conversations to an unknown number. The husband walked out, and the lawsuits began. More »
A Florida businessman named his market Eat More Produce, and Chick-fil-A has taken it as a personal insult, sending the business letters accusing it of ripping off its ad campaign, the Orlando Sentinel reports: More »
A cap on ATM fees topping out at 50 cents, as proposed by some in Congress, sounds like a no-brainer, an automatically awesome thing that anyone who has ever groaned at a $3 fee would seem to applaud. But there could be disadvantages too. More »
Just the words "credit report" make many want to cringe as they think of those late payments they made, or that time something just didn't go through, causing what you might think might be irreparable damage to that record almost every consumer carries with them as they go about the business of buying things. But if something isn't right, how can you fix it? More »
Despite fulfilling every obligation under trial government-sponsored loan modification programs, some homeowners can end up far worse off than if they had never joined up at all, Propublica reports. That's because if they're denied a permanent modification, they have to pay the entire amount that was being discounted, often within a very short period of time. This pushes already strapped families past the breaking point. More »
Goldline, a company that sells gold coins, has an important announcement: coin collectors made out well in the 1930s and were protected from "the whims and vagaries of a spendthrift government." More »
Parents have complained that Procter & Gamble's Pampers Dry Max diapers are irritating their babies' skin, and now the company is facing a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Ohio, as well as an investigation from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. More »
Foes of net neutrality are getting set to spend $1.4 million to air a series of ads against the Federal Communication Commission's efforts to enforce net neutrality rules by regulating broadband access providers as telecom services. First up: this peppy offering from Americans for Prosperity, that warns that the Internet will be the next domino to fall to the encroaching menace of a "Washington takeover." More »
Cash4Gold supports legislation designed to regulate it and its competitors, according to a letter from the company's president, Jeff Aronson. "Cash4Gold supports HR 4501, the Guarantee of a Legitimate Deal Act, and the provisions outlined in the bill," Aronson wrote to two congressman who are backing the bill. More »
The FCC is considering requiring cell carriers in the U.S. to do something their European counterparts already have to do: send customers text warnings when they're about to incur massive charges because they've used up all their included minutes or are about to hit a roaming zone. More »
At the MPAA's behest, the FCC granted Selectable Output Control, which means you won't be able to record certain "high value" stuff off your TV, ZeroPaid reports: More »
Yesterday the USDA announced new poultry safety rules intended to slightly reduce the number of poisonings annually from salmonella and campylobacter. An agency official says that the new rules should prevent about 65,000 cases of food sickness a year, which is only a fraction of the over a million cases annually. However, most of the other food products that contribute to that number fall under FDA regulation, so the USDA can't say anything. "This is something we can do, so we're doing it," the spokesman told the Los Angeles Times. More »
It's a good thing summer camps are coming up, with their weird seminars on bracelet weaving and whittling rings, because the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has just announced a recall of 19,000 charms sold at Claire's stores, and says that's just the beginning. More »
It may not feel like it, but it turns out that you are paying really low taxes right now, the lowest in 60 years, in fact, according to a new analysis of Federal data. More »
Tennesseans homeowners have enough to worry about with the flooding, but the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has stopped worries that victims would drown in the resulting debt. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan directed lenders to put a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures in flood-ravaged areas. More »
Mail in rebates are a sneaky way to make things look cheaper than they actually are at the point of sale, since many consumers never actually get any cash back. Now New Jersey's state Assembly is considering legislation that would require retailers to charge shoppers the after-rebate price on goods, instead of forcing them to mail in or submit online requests. If the retailer still wants to take advantage of the rebate, that's no problem; he'll just have to mail it in himself. More »
Jennifer says her apartment's landlord suffered a foreclosure, which will leave the rooms uninhabitable if the utilities have been shut off. Her horror story is probably more common than you'd like to believe in this era of rapid foreclosures, and a cautionary tale of signing a lease in which utilities are included. More »
According to Tom, there are three basic types of American business. If that's too many to remember, you can also organize them under them under the umbrella concept known as "screwed up."
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Bank of America for taking $25 billion in federal TARP bailout money but intentionally failing to live up to its part of the bargain. The deal was that banks were supposed to use use the money to allow struggling homeowners to reduce their payments to affordable levels. "Bank of America came up with every excuse to defer the Kahlo family from a home loan modification, from stating they 'lost' their paperwork to saying they never approved the new terms of the mortgage agreement," said the plaintiff's attorney. "And we know from our investigation this isn't an isolated incident." Bank of America declined to comment.
If you've been wondering how much of your body airport full-body scanners actually do reveal, a recent TSA training session in Miami shows the answer: enough for your co-workers to mock the size of your genitals. The target of the mockery eventually found it unbearable, and police say that he "could not take the jokes anymore and lost his mind," attacking one of his colleagues in the parking lot. He was arrested for aggravated battery. More »
You might have noticed a few headlines this morning about the good jobs news — 290,000 new jobs were added in March — coupled with the rather grim realization that the unemployment rate climbed to 9.9%. What's up with that? More »
The Food and Drug Administration is looking into adjusting labeling regulations and wants to know what you're looking for to ensure a food item's healthiness when you're digging through supermarket shelves. More »
Earlier this week, Los Angeles authorities announced that 439 currently legal marijuana dispensaries would have to shut their doors by June 7 or face fines of up to $2,500 a day and possible jail time. Only about 130 dispensaries will remain open after the June 7 deadline. And thanks to the folks at the L.A. Times, citizens of L.A. now have an interactive map showing where the stores to be shuttered are located. More »
ABCNews has an article that contrasts the Obama administration's handing of the airlines with the previous one — and one thing is for certain — it's getting much more expensive to mess with consumers. More »
An amendment to the financial overhaul bill banning the use of taxpayer funds for bank bailouts has been agreed upon in the Senate, says the LA Times. More »
Fighting back against a court ruling that found the FCC has no authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks, the commission has proposed regulating broadband under rules designed for phone networks, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »
"Darnit, where was that mortgage modification paper? I knew I put it somewhere. Oh well, let's just foreclose on these people's house. STAMP! Whoo, that was tough. Time to treat myself to a Diet Coke." That's an imaginative reenactment at what's going on inside the mortgage departments of the biggest banks in America: total disorganization, the right hand not knowing what the left is doing, a bureaucratic and document-strewn nightmare that can swallow up people's homes right from under them. More »
One of the implied promises of a brand name, especially when it comes to drugs, is you can expect higher quality, but maybe that doesn't apply when it comes to McNeil products.The FDA says the plant that produced the recently recalled children's Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl, was using raw materials that were contaminated with bacteria. The plant also lacked adequate quality-control procedures and was dirty. So far none of the recalled medicine has tested positive for bacterial contamination, but the FDA report suggests that the contaminated material was used to make the recalled lots. The plant has been shut down indefinitely. More »
Citing lengthy privacy policies, confusing information about how personal data is used, and a lack of transparency in behavioral marketing campaigns, Maneesha Mithal of the Federal Trade Commission declared the current Internet consumer privacy system "broken," and said the agency is working on a series of recommendations to help fix it. More »
Death and Taxes 2011 is here! Jess Bachman is famed for his annual poster where he spends two months researching and creating a visual representation of where your taxes go. The result is a stunning six-foot poster that boggles the mind. Now in it's 4th year, the poster has over 500 departments, agencies, programs, and whatever else the government can spend money on. "It is still the single most open and accessable record of government spending ever created," says its creator. After the jump, here is this year's version in full! More »
Walmart got caught violating California's environmental laws by dumping hazardous materials improperly and agreed to pay $27.6 million to the state to settle a lawsuit, the L.A. Times reports. More »
Here's an interesting law that has some privacy implications. In Utah, bars are required to scan the IDs of anyone "who looks 35 years old or younger", and the penalty for failing to electronically verify licenses is "akin to serving alcohol to a minor," says the Salt Lake City Tribune. More »
If 24-Hour Fitness kept charging even after you cancelled, you might be eligible to join a class action lawsuit against them. You can join if you were debited between Oct 2, 2002 and Feb 28, 2010. You could get $20 back, or, in a perhaps ironic twist, a three month gift certificate to 24-Hour Fitnesss.
Only in the Bay Area does it become an official civic emergency when pot stashes dry up. The Easy Bay Express reports the Oakland City council declared a local public health emergency because supplies of medical marijuana have dwindled. More »
As states across America take a look at their budgets, some are getting creative with sales taxes in an effort to increase their revenue by slapping a tax on some interesting items and services. CNNMoney checked out what's going down all over America, from magician taxes to hot air balloon ride tariffs. More »
Fans of Ronald Reagan have gotten airports and highways named after the 40th president, but a proposal to put the Gipper on the $50 bill in place of Ulysses S. Grant is about as popular as putting Bonzo on the hundred. More »
Philly police say they are no longer going to waste time and resources responding to minor fender benders in which there are no injuries and the cars can be safely driven away. More »
Long gone are mimeographs or photocopiers that used mechanical means to reproduce whatever document needed reproducing. Now, almost all copiers are also scanners, fax machines and rotisserie ovens (okay, so not that last one). As such, they contain some method of electronic storage that could possibly be used by individuals with shady purposes. That's why a Congressman from Massachusetts has asked the FTC to look into just how risky it is to use these new-fangled machines. More »
As if Goldman Sachs didn't already have enough problems with the SEC's civil probe of the firm and senators screaming at execs about the "shitty deals" offered to clients, word is out now that federal prosecutors are investigating the company. According to reports out this morning, the investigation is just starting up, and no charges have been made against the company. More »
A reminder to any bloggers who like free stuff, and companies working on exciting new Internet marketing strategies: the Federal Trade Commission is watching you, so keep to their guidelines that dictate bloggers must disclose any compensation that they receive for posting about or reviewing a product. While they didn't take any action against clothing retailer Ann Taylor for offering gift cards to bloggers who posted about a new collection, the scrutiny was an important message in itself. More »
Do you work in a corrupt industry? The Daily Beast took a look at data gathered by Transparency International, a "global anti-corruption think tank," and put together a list of America's most corrupt professions. Everyone may be hating on Wall Street right now, but the worst offenders according to the criteria used are utilities. In second and third place were Wall Street and telecommunications, and media came in fifth, well before banking, insurance, or retail. More »
It's deja vu all over again: For the second day in a row, Republicans blocked debate on the financial reform bill. Once more, the vote was 57-41. And, once more, Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska broke ranks and voted with Republicans against the bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring the bill up for a vote again tomorrow. More »
We don't normally put expletives in our headlines, but when a Senator says the word nearly a dozen times in an open hearing, who are we to argue? And, we have to admit, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) certainly makes a compelling case when he reads back Goldman Sachs internal emails and concludes that the company's "top priority was selling that shitty deal." Video after the jump. More »
Brazilians are a passionate people. Unfortunately, they are also a people with high blood pressure. But the country's health minister is telling Brazilians that a good place to fight heart problems is between the sheets. More »
I've certainly fought back the urge to shout obscenities at the register over the years, but until now I never thought it might be because the laser in the scanner was triggering an inherited tic disorder; I just thought I was angry about something. A woman in Pennsylvania thinks otherwise and sued a convenience store, claiming that when a clerk shone a price scanner's LED in her daughter's face and told her to cheer up, the light burned her daughter and triggered Tourette's-style symptoms. The judge threw out the case earlier this month for lack of evidence. More »
When the SEC announced its fraud complaint against Goldman Sachs, people noted that the penalties involved would involve money, not jail time. But an attorney writing for seekingalpha.com argued over the weekend that John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who worked with GS to create "synthetic derivatives," accessed FICO scores to create his financial product and therefore violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)—which could mean a penalty as high as $1 billion, and even jail time if the FTC or Justice Department decides to go after him. More »
With a 57-41 vote, Senate Republicans blocked debate over the White House-supported financial reform bill. The Democrats needed a 60-vote "supermajority" to avoid a Republican filibuster threat. Democrats plan to reintroduce the bill as early as tomorrow. More »
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that debt collectors can't use a "bona fide error" defense to avoid being sued for misinterpreting the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). In other words, if a debt collection agency makes a demand that's in violation of the Act, it can't say it didn't know any better. Well, it can, but you can go right ahead and sue. More »
The media spin cycle is churning out its typically tepid hogwash about the SEC's suit against Goldman Sachs. The Big Picture skewers 10 myths about the case and gets to the heart of the matter: Goldman is screwed. Here's why: More »
Senator Charles Schumer is upset on your behalf over Facebook's latest loosening of its privacy policies, and yesterday he called for the FTC to step in and provide some guidance, offering to introduce legislation if the agency feels it needs that extra authority. Specifically, Schumer wants three things: opt-out defaults should be switched to opt-in, sites should always disclose where the information is going, and there should be some general "guidelines for user privacy" that sites follow. More »
Last week Constantin Films got YouTube to pull almost all the Angry Hitler parody clips by using the website's Content ID tracking system. The process is automatic, and YouTube immediately takes down a video once it's been tagged. However, that also means you can use this system in reverse to get your clips back up, at least for as long as you're in dispute with the copyright holder. Whether you do this or not will depend on how willing you are to risk a potential lawsuit later on. More »
In a wide-ranging interview, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz spoke with NPR's On the Media about the agency's role in protecting consumer privacy, fighting back against deceptive marketing practices — and about Leibowitz's weekend basketball games with Federal Communications Commission chief Julius Genachowski: "Julius has been schooling me on the basketball court for some time. ... He's very crafty." More »
The NYT takes us behind the scenes of the endless nitpicking that goes on before a movie poster can be shown to the easily-offended public. Meet Marilyn Gordon. She is in charge of a team whose goal is to make sure you, the public, are not offended. More »
During the President's address to Wall Street bankers today in New York City, he reminded them that their predecessors had completely flipped out about a bill that passed through Congress way back in 1933. It was, in their view, sure to "not only rob them of their pride of profession but would reduce all U.S. banking to its lowest level." What was this reform bill? More »
The White House has released potions of a speech to be made by the president later today in NYC. In it Mr. Obama calls on banking industry lobbyists to halt their efforts to stop financial reforms that he feels are in the best interest of the market and the country. More »
Sue Lowden, a senate candidate in Nevada, says if you want to combat health care costs you should consider bartering with your doctor. In an appearance on a local political talk show yesterday, she clarified her proposal: More »
Today the Treasury Department will reveal a redesigned $100 bill. The new design brings the bill in line with the smaller denominations that are already in circulation, and it adds a fancy new anti-counterfeiting measure called Motion that uses special threads to "create an optical illusion of images sliding in directions perpendicular to the light that catches them." More »
The consumer group Consumer Watchdog is planning to ask the Justice Department to "launch an antitrust action against the search giant and seek remedies including a possible break up," reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The group will host a press conference in Washington, D.C. tomorrow where it will argue that there's enough evidence to warrant antitrust action from the feds. More »
North Carolina's tax collectors want to find out which of the state's residents have bought untaxed goods from Amazon over the past seven years, so they visited Amazon's HQ in Seattle and demanded the retailer turn over its records. When Amazon said no, the state threatened to sue. What it got instead was a preemptive lawsuit from Amazon that "says the demand violates the privacy and First Amendment rights of Amazon's customers." More »
"Waterfall" provisions of asset backed securities are the rules that explain the flow of funds in the transaction, and they are are very hard to read. Blogger/professor Jayanth Varma calls them "horrendously complicated," leading trustees to make mistakes or pull stunts that investors never expected. To remedy this, the SEC is proposing that the provisions be written in a programming language, filed on EDGAR, and made available as downloadable Python source code. More »
For several years, it's been completely legal for just about anyone in the U.S. to get their hands on K2, a so-called "herbal incense" which also happens to be sprayed with cannabinoids, meaning you should get a similar experience from smoking K2 as you would marijuana. However, it's recently been banned in Kansas and the state of Illinois is looking into the legality of K2. More »
Last year the Department of Energy, which co-administers the Energy Star certification program with the EPA, admitted that it allows many companies to certify their goods themselves. That was somewhat worrying, but nothing like what happened earlier this year when government auditors successfully got ludicrously power-hungry designs approved for the Energy Star label. The EPA and Energy Department have responded by announcing a new, stricter certification process. More »
The Consumer Products Safety Commission has voted to create a new database of consumer complaints that will allow consumers to "see complaints of injuries or potential harm that are filed to the commission by consumers, safety groups, health care professionals and others," More »
The Better Business Bureau says tomorrow is Secure Your ID Day, which means 55 BBB locations around the country will provide free shredding services. You can frustrate identity thieves who planned on digging through your trash to find out your secret info by putting your files through the shredder. More »
Postmaster General John Potter appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to make his case for scrapping service on Saturdays, and what he had to say about the USPS wasn't exactly rainbows and sunshine. More »
The New York Post says that a state worker in charge of running a corrections department food facility took Fridays off... for 17 years. Now they're going after him for $230,000 worth of Friday pay, as well as other "ill-gotten" gains. More »
A reader just had his credit limit lowered on a credit card due to some bad credit history that he says isn't his. He'd like to see what's going on with his credit report, but Equifax says he'll have to pay for the privilege, because they have no record of any inquiries in the past 60 days. The reader asks, "Has this happened to anyone else, where a credit card company waited over 60 days to notify them of credit limit reductions? Also, does this violate the FCRA?" More »
Pennsylvania is considering privatizing its Bureau of Weights and Measures to save money, reports CBS affiliate KDKA. This would mean gas stations would be responsible for making sure their pumps gave out the right amount of gas, and supermarkets would take over the certification for their deli scales. A consumer advocate calls this a "fox in the henhouse situation" that would make cheating far too easy. More »
T&J Towing of Kalamazoo, MI wants to send a message to anyone in the town who feels like complaining about the company online. They've filed a $750,000 defamation lawsuit against a Western Michigan University student for starting a Facebook page about them. More »
A new report issued by the Dept. of Agriculture's Office of the Inspector General says that tainted meat is making its way to your dinner plate because of a combination of inter-departmental squabbling and a lack of general oversight by the regulatory agencies involved. More »
Remember in Sept. 2008, when Washington Mutual went from being the sixth-largest bank in the U.S. to the biggest bank failure in U.S. history? Well, newly released documents show just how reckless and money-grubbing WaMu was in its final months — and how some employees were reaping huge rewards as the bank sunk into the quicksand. More »
A Florida man is being sued for $15,000 for leaving a negative comment on a transaction to buy a $44 clock, breaking his perfect rating, NBC 2 of Florida reports: More »
Maybe this is the real reason job fairs are being cancelled: A sheriff's deputy in Colorado has been suspended after using his taser on 30 high school students at a job fair last week. And it wasn't a case of overzealous policing; the students volunteered! More »
The L.A. Times reports Americans' love of eating and immense poverty have combined to help our people set a new record for food stamp consumption in a month. More »
Spirit Airline's ballsy new $20-45 fee for carry-on bags has already caught the attention of the Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and now New York Senator Charles Schumer is rattling his sword. More »
Whether you are a proponent of breastfeeding or not, the reality is that working mothers who do nurse their children need a place to pump during the workday, and the bathroom just might not do. Luckily for them, the new health care bill signed by President Obama includes provisions for nursing women in the workplace. More »
If you’re still angry over airline Ryanair's announcement last week that they’ll begin charging to use the bathroom on flights, as well as reducing the number of lavatories, you’re not alone — and the law might be on your side. One critic of the policy says he thinks the airline could be violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by limiting access to restrooms. More »
NHTSA, fresh off its $16 million smackdown on Toyota is now investigating the company that booted Toyota from Consumerist's Worst Company In America tournament — General Motor — for possible brake failure issues in millions of the company's trucks and SUVs. More »
"I have researched his issues and based on our records the case is without merit," wrote a Comcast spokesperson to local news investigator Amy Davis. She was looking into the case of Wayne, whose credit was damaged by Comcast just before he was going to refinance his house. This meant that on top of what he had already paid to lock in a lower interest rate, he had to pay several thousand dollars more. More »
If you found yourself getting all riled up by Spirit Airlines' announcement on Tuesday that they are now charging for carry-on bags, you were not alone. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has taken aim the move, calling it "outrageous" and "ridiculous." More »
Warehouse workers at the Carlsberg brewery in Denmark have been striking this week, not over wages or unsafe working conditions, but because they can only drink on the job during lunch... and not as much as the company's truck drivers. More »
Responding to concerns from Congress, the FDA announced today that they are in the process of reviewing how consumers use triclosan, an antibacterial agent used in soap and many other products. And while the FDA says it doesn't have enough info to tell people not to use soaps containing triclosan, it also doesn't see any evidence that adding triclosan to soap makes any difference. More »
Our more scholarly siblings over at Consumer Reports recently sat down for an interview with David Vladeck, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission. And while Mr. Vladeck had all sorts of important things to say about scams, frauds and various sorts of hoodwinkery, the most important thing is that he likes us... he really likes us. More »
Have you ever suspected that your city or town is trying too hard to catch traffic scofflaws in the pursuit of ticket revenue? A Florida woman received a ticket based on evidence from a red light camera, but believed the ticket was unfair because the yellow light was too short. The power of math proved that she was correct.. More »
For as much as exotic dancers (you might call them strippers) show off when they're spinning around the brass pole on stage at the club, most of them are pretty private about their profession when they're not at work. That explains why a former dancer of the exotic type filed a lawsuit after she saw a picture of herself being used on a billboard — for a club she never even worked at. More »
Up until today, if you lived near a certain street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and wanted some pot, you just had to go to the nearby variety store. Or the music store. Or the take-out restaurants. MyFox New York says police "made a sweep of the neighborhood" today and shut down six businesses for selling drugs either in the back or right alongside the regular merchandise. They also arrested 8 people, including a few store owners and employees, and are planning more arrests. Video below. More »
Comcast has won a key court battle as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the FCC lacks authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks, reports the AP. More »
Authorities accuse a New York pizza shop owner of adding a free extra salivary topping to a pizza ordered by someone she apparently thought could use some extra flavor, Syracuse.com reports. More »
This image, currently going crazy on reddit, speaks for itself. We hope it is real, but also hope that it isn't. Ya know? For humanity's sake? Or at least the City of Melbourne's sake... More »
For the last several years, the IRS has released their Dirty Dozen list of tax scams, including schemes involving return preparer fraud, hiding income offshore and phishing. They recently posted the 2010 version on their website. More »
$182.3 billion is a hefty tab to pay off, but the CEO of AIG says he feels "pretty comfortable" that his company will be able to get that all back to the government between now and the Sept. 2013 deadline. More »
With financial reform likely to be the next big target of the White House, NPR's On the Media worries that the topic could be too confusing for most journalists to really understand well enough to explain to the American people. And this includes journalists who do this all day, every day. More »
When visiting a pet store that allows leashed pets to visit, is it unreasonable to keep an eye out for dog poop? Inside the store? The Virginian-Pilot reports that a man is suing Petsmart in federal court after slipping and falling on a pile of feces in a Norfolk, Va. store. He alleges that the fall exacerbated his existing back injury and knocked out four of his false teeth. More »
Lana is a little frustrated with the U.S. Postal Service right now. She writes that she received an odd envelope in the mail from USPS—the tear-off advertising sheet from the front of a Netflix envelope addressed to her. An overly conscientious postal employee took the flyer, carefully placed it in a damaged item envelope, and mailed it back to Lana. More »
If you got some free time and want some cash and are cool with waiting a few months for it to arrive, here are some new class action lawsuits you can join. More »
With torrential rains causing massive flooding in Rhode Island and parts of Massachusetts, the IRS has decided to make victims' lives a little less stressful by moving the due date for filing their federal income tax returns. More »
In these cash-strapped times, you'd think anyone willing to buy $50K worth of ad space on subways and buses would be a good thing. But for some reason, the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority wasn't happy with this recently proposed ad campaign. More »
Kiplinger says that in the near future, if you're driving down a rural or less-traveled road, you might find yourself driving on gravel. Road asphalt has doubled in price over the past three years and shows no signs of coming back down, so some states—Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Vermont, and Pennsylvania to begin with—are looking for ways to cut corners. Gravel costs $20 a ton compared to asphalt's current $400/ton price. More »
"Nobody expects the U.S. Census! Our chief weapon is surprise!" A Seattle blogger posted a photograph of a fortune she received in her fortune cookie recently, and it looks like the Census is using surprisefear and surprise surprise, fear, and a ruthless efficiency to remind people to send back their forms. Oh, and they're ruining fortune cookies. I fully expect to be forced into a comfy chair soon, which all in all isn't a bad way to be tortured, so meh. More »
A judge just invalidated the patents on two human genes whose mutations have been linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The genes were isolated by a biotech firm called Myriad Genetics, which argued that because it figured out how to isolate the genes outside of the human body then they were patentable. The judge called that "a ‘lawyer’s trick’ that circumvents the prohibition on the direct patenting of the DNA in our bodies." The company sells a $3,000 cancer screening kit and has maintained a monopoly on the test because of the patents. More »
Kaching, kaching, that's the sound of Mastercard's lobbyist's coffers engorging. The credit card company spent nearly a million dollars in the 4th quarter to lobby Congress critters. By comparison, they spent only $680,000 in the 3rd quarter, and $510,000 in Q4 2008. Among the issues of keen interest to the big orange and yellow interlocking circle: overdraft fees, banking reform, interchange fees, issuer practices, and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The good thing about being Mastercard is that you can just charge all your lobbying expenditures.
Beware your home electronics — your phones, wireless routers, even your dimmer switches — because they might be making your neighbor ill. Or at least that's what one man in New Mexico is saying in a lawsuit against a technology-loving former friend. More »
A new program announced by the Obama Administration today could help homeowners whose homes have declined in value by offering new government-backed loans and getting lenders to reduce the principal owed on homes whose values have fallen by at least 15%. The catch? Investors who own existing mortgages won't be forced to participate in the new, voluntary program. More »
Does an EnergyStar label change your perception of a product? Maybe it shouldn't. Last year, an audit showed that Energy Star gave its rating to products that misrepresented their energy usage. This time, auditors posed as companies and submitted completely absurd appliances for EnergyStar ratings, like a gasoline-powered alarm clock the size of a portable generator, and a space heater with a feather duster on top claiming to be an "air purifier." Is the study meaningless because no actual products were sold, or a warning that the program is sloppy and susceptible to fraud? More »
More than 100 lawyers from all around the country packed into a San Diego courtroom yesterday in an attempt to stake their claim to the lion's share of any settlements that come from the multitude of federal lawsuits filed against Toyota in recent weeks. More »
Yesterday, a Food & Drug Administration advisory panel suggested that the FDA begin making it a requirement for children and teenagers who want to get a golden glow from a tanning bed that they must first obtain parental consent on a form documenting that the parents are aware of the potential hazards of tanning. Since I get my sun the natural way — from the backlit screen of my laptop — I'd like to know from y'all whether you think this is a sensible idea that will help prevent skin disease and cancer in the long run or if it's just more mandated mollycoddling... More »
A woman who was hunched over chatting on her cellphone "discreetly" says the movie theater she was in is negligent because an arm rest fell down and smacked her in the head. More »
As the slumbering economy forces more people to think of ways to save money, the basic costs of living continue to increase. Case in point: Con Edison is set to jack up rates for electricity to millions of customers in the New York City metro area. More »
A California man is suing GameStop because he bought a used game that lacked a valid code he needed to download contest promised on the cover of the box, IGN reports. More »
A federal court in Boston has sentenced Albert Gonzalez, the Miami computer hacker behind millions of dollars in credit card theft from national retailers like TJ Maxx, BJs, Barnes & Noble and more, to 20 years in prison for his crimes. More »
The FTC says that the person behind a deceptive robocalling operation that allegedly used prerecorded messages to "fraudulently pitch extended auto warranties to U.S. consumers" will have to pay $655,000 as well as "turn over the proceeds from the sale of his second home in Florida and two luxury cars, a Porsche 911 and a Lexus sedan." More »
Thanks to the Federal Trade Commission, consumers have certain rights when it comes to funerals. Consumers have the right to purchase only the products or services they need, to use the services of a funeral home while declining embalming, to see written price lists before they begin to make decisions, and the right to purchase a casket or urn elsewhere. An undercover FTC investigation, however, discovered that in 30% of the funeral homes they visited, at least one part of the Funeral Rule of 1984 was violated. More »
With Starbucks finding itself in the crosshairs of a debate between gun control and firearms rights advocates, one would think that the CEO of the company would understand whether or not customers were allowed to carry loaded guns into his stores. One would be wrong. More »
Forget New York's proposal to raise the tax on cigarettes by $1 — California lawmakers have a much cloudier political situation on their hands. Election officials confirmed yesterday that voters will get the chance to say yea or nay to legalizing and taxing marijuana in their state. More »
The USPS got one step closer to their goal of eliminating Saturday delivery with the Postmaster General earning approval to take their proposal to the Postal Regulatory Committee next week. If they ultimately get the PRC and Congress to sign off, that would be the end to 6-day service. But will it matter to you if you don't get your mail on Saturdays? More »
In one of the odder coincidences in food-related lawsuit history, two separate Chicago-area women each filed suits against two separate grocery stores this week... for slipping and falling on runaway grapes. More »
When the CARD Act went into effect in February, it also included new rules designed to limit some of the more egregious practices of gift-card issuers, like early expiration dates and "dormancy" fees. However, Congress put the Federal Reserve in charge of interpreting the new law, and yesterday the agency unwrapped its new collection of rules. Is it too late to return this one? More »
Kenneth Feinberg, better known as the Obama administration's pay czar, announced yesterday that he'd cut salaries on top executives at 5 companies that are still using bailout cash. More »
Albert Gonzalez, the mastermind behind most of the multi-million dollar credit card breaches in the past few years, is being sentenced this week. (Feds are asking for 25 years.) Now his former accomplice, Stephen Watt, has told Wired that while Gonzalez was busy stealing and selling credit card data he was also being paid under the table by the U.S. Secret Service to inform on others, earning as much as $75,000 in cash annually. More »
A newly uncovered document shows that Toyota alerted dealers to complaints from some drivers of 2002 Camrys about "surging during light throttle input at speeds between 38-42 mph" and that the resolution to the issue is an electronic, not mechanical issue. More »
This graphic by Heather at Image Think does a pretty good job of explaining the major features and changes of the health care bill that Obama is set to sign on Tuesday.
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), a military payroll facility in Ohio, has told at least 62 of its employees that they will be terminated for having bad credit, reports WKYC. Troy Marshall, a 17-year veteran at the DFAS and one of the people being fired (incidentally, he's also the president of a union that expanded jobs at the DFAS five years ago), told WKYC that he handles Social Security numbers and maiden names, but nothing else. “We are people. We are not just numbers. We are not just credit reports... Look at the whole person.” More »
In a narrow vote, the US House of Representatives signed off on the Senate's national health care plan. The bill will now move onto the White House to, presumably, be signed by President Obama. More »
The Stripper Mobile is a rolling billboard for Tampa's Déjà Vu gentlemen's club. It's a truck that rolls around the city with a glassed-in box in the back where bikini-clad strippers pole dance, gyrate, and distract every driver on the road. The city took the Stripper Mobile off the road because of...problems with the truck's registration. The city, however, was concerned with the Stripper Mobile's trips through residential neighborhoods, skimpy bikinis, and vigorous booty-shaking. Now the truck is back, in a much tamer form that will probably still piss people off. More »
While myopathy (muscle injury) is a known side effect for all cholesterol-lowering statin medications, the FDA has just issued a warning that, when prescribed and used at higher doses, Zocor (generic name: simvastatin) carries with it a greater risk of developing muscle injury, including the most serious form of myopathy, rhabdomyolysis, which can lead to kidney damage, kidney failure, and possibly death. More »
Quick, what's the differences between the House and the Senate bills for creating the Consumer Financial Protection Agency? 4,3,2,1, okay, you can stop sweating, NYT has got you covered. Left column shows House, right column shows Senate. Choose the key areas to focus in on, like consumer protection, risk and executive pay on the left. Then dazzle your friends at the bar tonight!
It's been fifteen years and three presidents since it was first proposed, but the FDA has now signed off on a new set of rules for tobacco companies that seek to limit the marketing of cigarettes and chewing tobacco to teens and children. These new rules cover both advertising and distribution and will essentially put an end to tobacco-branded clothing, tobacco-sponsored sporting and music events, and the use of music in tobacco ads on the radio. More »
Newly released documents under the Freedom of Information Act reveal not just the Justice Department's guidelines for how to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter for investigative purposes, but which ones are the most friendly to their requests for access to user info. More »
You know that new rule that says airlines have to let passengers off the plane if it's stuck on the tarmac for more than 3 hours? It's supposed to go into effect in April, but at least three airlines are hoping to delay it because they say runway repairs at JFK Airport will interfere with schedules. More »
Health reform is scary, which is why one of my grandma's keeps forwarding me emails about how Obama is going to steal her walker. Will it save me money? What if I hate my employer's insurance? What changes would I notice right away? Consumer Reports took your questions to the Administration to cut through the hype and get the facts. Nancy Metcalf interviews Secretary of Health & Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. More »
In a move toward greater transparency, the New York City Board of Health has decided that all restaurants in the five boroughs will now be required to post large letter grades reflecting the results of their most recent health inspection. More »
Paper clips are really handy. You can use them for things like hitting that tiny reset button on your DVR and, well, clipping paper. And according to the Attorney General's office in Massachusetts, one dentist was using them in patients' mouths during root canals. More »
Financial blogger Felix Salmon wants to know why there isn't regulatory oversight of Mint and other financial management websites, especially if they're going to sell data created from their users' transaction histories. More »
Several states and cities around the country consider taking part in the latest trend of levying a "soda tax" on high-calorie beverages. But in New York state, the measure looks certain to die a quiet death in the state house, while the folks in Philadelphia are looking at a loophole that could render the whole "combatting obesity" thing nonexistent. More »
Yesterday, a court in South Carolina overturned an $18 million verdict against Ford stemming from a fatal 1999 incident involving a Ford Explorer. Their reasoning behind the reversal — an expert who testified about the vehicle's cruise control system apparently knew nothing about cruise control systems. More »
In a move designed to make sure their neighbors throw extra eggs at their houses, a handful of former AIG employees are threatening to sue because they haven't received bonuses as quickly as they had expected. More »
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) unveiled a 1,336-page financial reform bill today, as consumer advocates warned that it doesn't offer enough to protect the public and concentrates too much power in the Federal Reserve, and bankers complained the bill would "confuse consumers and businesses." No wonder Dodd's quitting his job. More »
Remember those Northwest Airlines pilots who were too busy looking at their laptops to bother landing in Minneapolis? They have made a deal with the FAA to drop their appeal to have their licenses reinstated. More »
USAToday says some states, like Iowa and Minnesota, offered nice big rebates ($100 to $250 or more) in the cash for appliances stimulus program. Consequently, those states gave away the money and had a successful program. Meanwhile, New York, which offered only a $75 rebate on a new fridge or clothes washer, set a 10-day window in February for its $16.8 million in rebates, has $7 million left a month a month later. More »
The FCC has released a scan (PDF) of the five-page executive summary of the National Broadband Plan that it will present to Congress in two days. Although the summary is packed with recommendations, here's a couple that a lot of broadband customers might be interested in: the FCC wants to develop "disclosure requirements for broadband service providers" so that consumers can make the best choice for service, and it wants to map broadband services across the country to better identify "specific geographies or market segments" where there's not enough competition. More »
Inspectors looking into last week's runaway Prius in Southern California are having troubled determining the cause of the incident, and haven't been able to replicate the braking problem. More »
Last Thursday, the FCC started collecting information from consumers about the quality of their broadband service. If you've got a PC that can run Java, you can go to Broadband.gov and run the test now. (The FCC will collect your IP address and physical address, but not your name or email address, reports Wired.) If you've got an iPhone or Android smartphone, you can download an app to measure your connectivity and report it. More »
As part of a settlement in a privacy lawsuit filed against Netflix late last year, the video delivery service has called off their $1 million Next Big Thing contest that started the whole problem in the first place. More »
Do you suspect you may be eligible for tax credits for to purchasing a new home or remodeling an existing one, but would like a sleek, simple infographic to guide you? Fixr is here to help, with a simple guide to this year's tax credits. More »
Consumer Reports is going to the White House to ask them what's up with health reform, and they need your questions press to them. The Health Blog is going to interview Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, the crackerjack former state insurance commissioner of Kansas. What does health reform mean? How much will it cost? Are we going to get savings or will private doctors get run out of business? Leave your questions in the comments here or over on the Consumer Reports Health Blog or email it to tips@consumerist.com, subject "health reform."
A Washington, D.C. law mandates shoppers shell out a nickel for each grocery bag they use, and the regulation has caused people to stop taking as many unnecessary bags and reduced waste, the Baltimore Sun reports. More »
Remember the story the other day about the woman in New York who slammed her runaway Prius into a stone wall? In an interesting little twist, the police say she was actually on her way to the Toyota dealership to have her car serviced when the incident occurred. More »
Tax refunds are fool's gold, because they're interest free loans you've been floating to the government all year long. The ideal move is to have just the right amount deducted from your paycheck each week so you'll pay a small amount come tax time. More »
This is also why you're fat. A graph of inflation-adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows how the prices of different food and beverages has changed over the past three decades. The price of crap food over the past 30 years has dropped. At the same time, the food you used to try to hide in your glass of milk has gotten steadily more expensive. No wonder the average man in his 60's is 25 lbs heavier than he was in the late 70's. Hey, govmnt, how about shifting some of those corn and soybean subsidies over to produce growers? More »
In a legal decision that could have a ripple effect on the digital download market, a British court has ruled that record label EMI can not sell songs from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album as individual downloads or ringtones. More »
Another day, another report of a Toyota crash being blamed on a stuck gas pedal. This time, it's a 76-year-old woman in Connecticut claiming her recalled Toyota Camry went nuts on her and — in spite of her best efforts to stop it — crashed into a church. More »
The Washington Post reports that thanks to legislative compromise, banks and mortgage brokers may be the only financial institutions regulated by the proposed federal Consumer Financial Protection Agency—leaving entities that loan money but don't hold bank charters, such as auto dealers, pawn shops, and payday lenders, unregulated by the industry. Now an unholy alliance of banking industry groups and consumer advocates are fighting the proposal, each for their own reasons. More »
A few weeks back, we wrote about a woman in Staten Island who filed a lawsuit against her plastic surgeon, claiming her breast enhancement surgery was so botched that she effectively ended up with "four breasts." Well, her case must have been convincing, because a court has awarded her $3.5 million. More »
Determined to match Utah in sheer craziness, the New York state assembly has turned its ire toward salt, considering a bill that would prohibit its use in cooking in state restaurants, with a $1,000 fine to slap violators. More »
A class action has been filed against AT&T DSL for being too slow. Specifically, the suit alleges that AT&T set the maximum rate customers could get at a level that was lower than the advertised rate. The company denies these claims but has opted to settle instead of going to court. You're eligible to join if... More »
The folks over at the Center for Science in the Public Interest recently took a look at how 128 different food and entertainment companies market food to kids. And, perhaps not surprisingly, they gave failing marks to 95 of them for having either weak policies for marketing food products to children or having none at all. More »
Things went from bad to worse to downright awful for Toyota on Tuesday as yet another of their Prius hybrid vehicles was involved in an accident involving a stuck accelerator pedal. More »
Wisconsin's lemon law for cars is pretty strict. If a customer demands a refund on a newly bought car that won't run and can't be repaired, the manufacturer has to comply within 30 days or pay double the purchase price plus legal fees. Marco Marquez has been fighting Mercedes-Benz for 4 years now over a $56,000 E 320 he bought in 2005 that immediately stopped working. He says the company deliberately stalled on giving him the refund in time, and last week a judge awarded him $482,000. More »
For several years, LifeLock has been so brash about their skills at protecting customers from ID theft that they not only drove around a truck displaying their CEO's Social Security Number in public, they also advertised his SSN on TV ads. But that hubris has come back to bite them on the rear, as LifeLock has just agreed to a $11 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over the bulked-up claims made in their ads. More »
A 19-year-old was pulled over at a traffic stop in Colorado a few weeks ago and quickly found himself arrested on an outstanding warrant. The charge? Not drugs or murder or even tax fraud. No, the perp was picked up because of an overdue DVD from his local library. More »
The ongoing debate about whether or not to levy sales tax on online purchases got another talking point yesterday, as Amazon.com reacted to one such law in Colorado by completely dropping all of its affiliates in the state. More »
This is probably not how Toyota wanted their week to start. Yesterday afternoon in Southern California, a man called 911 because he was unable to unstick the accelerator pedal of his 2008 Toyota Prius and continued to drive at speeds of over 90 mph until finally coming to a stop. More »
At a speech today in Philadelphia, President Barack Obama set his sights on the insurance industry as the main stumbling block to the passing of a National Health Care plan, saying they would rather not insure the people who need insurance the most. More »
Adding a bit of fuel to the anti-Toyota fire, six Toyota manufacturing employees now say they wrote a memo to company executives in 2006 voicing concerns about vehicle safety and long-term impact on the company, only to be completely ignored. More »
While some indicators seem to say that the economy is turning around or at least not getting worse, there are still millions of homes out there that are at risk of foreclosure. And since so many of those outstanding mortgages were based on grossly inflated home prices, the odds of finding a buyer that will pay off the mortgage are slim. However, a new program about to take effect in April will encourage lenders to accept less than they're owed. More »
The FTC has designated this week National Consumer Protection Week, so all scams will be put on hold and businesses won't overcharge you until next Sunday. What, no? That's now how it works? Ah... it looks like it's more about consumer education, which is also a good thing since that will help consumers protect themselves year round. For adults, here's a whole page of various scam prevention tips, fact sheets, and videos. If you're an educator, you can enroll in the National Financial Capability Challenge and get an "educator toolkit" to help you teach students how to be smart consumers. There's a section for businesses too, with information on how to protect customers' personal info and deter ID theft. More »
Jon needs help in getting out from under a pile of junk mail. He writes that after falling for a psychic scam, his grandparents have ended up on mailing lists advertising every scam imaginable. They receive about one hundred pieces of mail per week. He wants to stop the deluge, but isn't sure how. Can the Consumerist hive mind help him? More »
It's a story that sounds too odd to be true, but a judge in Brownsville, Texas, has filed a lawsuit against his local Sam's Club, the store's manager and the store's parent company Walmart Stores Inc., alleging that a bad customer service experience led to his arrest and involuntary commitment to two mental health facilities. More »
Starting Monday, some passengers at Boston's Logan Airport will have the honor and privilege of being the first to be scanned by a new machine that probably costs more than their house. And this is just the beginning of the Dept. of Homeland Security's plan to install 450 of the sparkly new terrorist detectors in airports across the nation over the next year. More »
On his personal website, "natural psychic and Remote Viewer" Sean David Morton claims to have predicted everything from the 1989 San Francisco earthquake to Bill Clinton's impeachment to the burst of the dotcom bubble. But that doesn't impress the SEC, who filed a lawsuit against Morton yesterday, alleging that he committed $6 million worth of securities fraud by claiming he could see into the future. More »
Is anyone really surprised it came to this? A Netflix subscriber isn't happy about having to wait 28 days for Warner Home Video movies to be made available on the video delivery service, so she's filed a class action lawsuit. More »
Josh tries to keep up with the hamster wheel of video game releases through GameFly, the Netflix of gaming, but the USPS can't seem to get the game envelopes to him. His story brings to mind the troubles GameFly has long had with the Postal Service. More »
While Barack Obama stresses out at night in the White House, he's visited by former Presidents George and George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan... all of whom seem to have an opinion on the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. More »
There are many things that a family needs to consider and in the weeks and months after a loved one's death. A court battle over legal custody of her frozen head should not be one of those things, but that's what a Colorado family faces after the death of their 71-year-old grandmother. More »
The arrest and ticket quota is supposed to be an urban myth, but one NYPD officer told ABCNews that it is anything but. He works in the Bronx and says he's "not going to keep arresting innocent people." More »
As Toyota continues to slog through the millions of cars and trucks on it massive recall list, several drivers whose vehicles have been to the dealer and back are saying that there cars are still experiencing problems with sudden acceleration and bad braking. More »
We know that JFK is woefully understaffed in the air traffic control tower, but this is downright silly. The FAA has confirmed that a newly uncovered audio file is indeed that of a young child controlling air traffic over the radio to planes waiting to depart the busy NYC airport. More »
Rent-A-Center, the furniture/appliance rent-to-own company ("For When You Want to Piss Away Your Paycheck!"), has settled with the Washington Attorney General's Office over charges that its employees harassed customers who were late on payments. Last year, the company's employees in Washington were accused of trying to kick in one customer's door and threatening another one with jail, among other things. More »
Inc21 supposedly sells web hosting and other Internet-related services, but the FTC says that in reality it contracted with offshore telemarketers who helped it cram charges onto unsuspecting customers' phone bills, earning $19 million over the past five years. Customers who complained about the charges said they were either never contacted in the first place, were promised a free trial, were told that the telemarketer was just verifying business information, or explicitly refused Inc21's offer and were charged anyway. More »
A week after unveiling the White House version of the proposed National Health Care Plan, President Obama says he's opened his ears up to a handful of suggestions from the Republicans. More »
In states like Virginia where it's legal for gun owners to walk around in public displaying their heat, there are some firearms fans who go out to stores they assume will be unfriendly about their gun-toting ways. But, in spite of its left-leaning reputation, coffee colossus Starbucks has instituted a policy saying guns are A-OK with them. More »
The United States Postal Service is continuing its long slide into suckage according to a new report delivered by Postmaster General John E. Potter this morning. People sent far less mail last year ("more than double any previous decline," says the Washington Post) and labor costs continue to rise, which helped the USPS lose $3.8 billion in 2009. More »
Toyota might be getting a pity party at home in Japan for the skewering the car company is receiving over their recall of 8 million vehicles, so this latest report will probably turn them into saints. A new look at almost 13,000 speed-related complaints over the last decade shows that Toyota led the pack in with the most complaints involving a crash. More »
A court in California recently tossed out a lawsuit filed against Sony claiming that their refusal to make their games more accessible to the visually impaired was in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. More »
According to a survey of human resource folks, 60% of them say they are now running credit checks on potential hires. But there's a new movement in several states — and one bill stuck in Congress — to make it illegal for a company to run such checks, because detractors claim they are hurting people from getting jobs during the recession. More »
If you were one of the millions of people who watched the Super Bowl in February, and you never got up for a potty and/or beverage break during the commercials, you might have seen a spot for Hyundai and you might have noticed a 1-second shot of someone holding a blinged-up basketball. And because of that, luxury thing maker Louis Vuitton has filed a lawsuit against the South Korean car company. More »
If you really love those Freecreditreport.com commercials just the way they are, take this next half year to pause and reflect on what they mean to you, because in September, the Huffington Post reports, owner Experian will have to start telling people their side business isn't the real way to get free annual credit reports from the government. We had this story last year, but in the wake of CARD act reforms, it bears repeating. More »
Apparently the Stateside uproar over the recall of 8 million Toyotas — and worries that the company may be attempting to conceal potential defects — has had the inverse effect in the car company's homeland. According to a new report, the Japanese public thinks America is overreacting to the situation. More »
Almost a year ago, Sonya Capri Ramos was in the news because she'd lost her home over a $68 dental bill. Last week, the Utah Court of Appeals gave her some hope that she might be able to get it back from the title company that bought it at auction for $1,550. More »
Upstart software company Microsoft managed to eke out a rare legal victory, as a U.S. District Court has thrown out a lawsuit alleging that Microsoft was forcing computer manufacturers to ship computers with their Vista operating system, compelling owners who want to use the earlier XP operating system to pay for the downgrade. More »
Here at Consumerist, we're constantly writing about online frauds, scams and misleading deals. But for all our writing, we're not a federal agency. That's where the Federal Trade Commission comes in. The good folks over at the FTC have just put together a short video demonstrating how easy it is for you to file a complaint with them on their site or over the phone. More »
Apple has always positioned itself as the computer and electronics brand of the hip and young — and it looks like they extended that ethos to their overseas manufacturing. The iCompany has issued an "oops" on its Web site, admitting that underage workers were employed in three different Apple-affiliated plants last year. More »
There's a movement in New York to have the state pass a so-called "soda tax" that impose taxes on soft drinks containing more than 10 calories per 8 ounces. Among the beverages included would be just about all non-diet sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks, sweetened coffees and teas (only in bottles), and fruit and vegetable juices containing less than 70% natural juice. According to the ads being run by the supporters of the tax, the goal is to curb childhood obesity. But will it really work? More »
Rachel and her husband ordered a DVD set from a seller who shipped via USPS, but the package can't seem to make its way to them. Their saga includes a cryptic email update and a notice of a delivery attempt they say never occurred. More »
Imagine the scene: Your beloved grandmother has been hospitalized for a respiratory illness. And then comes the bad news — A nurse at the hospital calls to say your grandmother has passed away. You go to her room to gather her personal items, and that's when your dead grandmother wakes up. More »
A Michigan State University study found the majority of consumers look for labels that signify products they're buying were inspected for safety, and that about a third are willing to pay more for such labeling. More »
Most people seem to agree that baby bottles that include the chemical BPA are probably less than awesome to use to feed your baby. States and municipalities have banned BPA, but the beleaguered chemical has finally found some allies in the Oregon state legislature, which voted down a bill that sought to ban it, the Oregonian reports: More »
Filing for unemployment benefits can be an exhausting bureaucratic mess, but it shouldn't cost you hundreds of dollars. In theory. According to TV station KOB, though, a New Mexico man spent so many hours on hold with the unemployment office that he ran up a $700 cell phone bill. More »
Yet again, business owners are accusing massive review site Yelp of extortion—and they've filed a class action lawsuit. This time, instead of guaranteeing positive reviews in exchange for cupcakes, the site is accused of contacting business owners and offering to remove their negative reviews for money. In a written statement, Yelp denied the allegations and noted, "Running a good business is hard; filing a lawsuit is easy." More »
Last week, the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform issued a subpoena for documents from former Toyota lawyer Dimitrios Biller as part of their investigation into exactly when the car giant knew about possible defects in their now-recalled vehicles. And now that they have their hands on Mr. Biller's papers, they are accusing Toyota of deliberately holding back important information. More »
If you've been following the hearings this week about the Toyota recall debacle, you're probably well aware of Rhonda Smith, who spoke before the House Committee on Energy & Commerce to share her harrowing story of trying to stop her suddenly accelerating Lexus ES350 back in 2006. Well, NHTSA now says that that car is still on the road — and that the new owners haven't experienced any problems. More »
The showdown over skyrocketing insurance rates in California got even nastier yesterday. The state's Attorney General's office announced that it has subpoenaed financial documents and launched an investigation into allegations of illegal premium hikes and wrongfully denied claims by seven separate health insurance providers. More »
We can understand just a little bit why some people might be willing to go on any of the countless daytime "judge" shows like Judge Judy, Judge Mathis, Street Court, etc. The shows pay you a nominal fee to appear, you get to be on TV and if the defendant loses, the show foots the bill (up to a certain amount). But the following video should give you four very good reasons for why you should never, ever, ever go on one of these shows. More »
Update: This is the new discrimination incident that this post was about. Sorry for the link mixup. There are evidently a lot of things that violate the "look policy" of Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister stores. For example, having a prosthetic arm. Or wearing an Islamic head scarf. According to the complaint a California woman filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a Hollister store hired her, then fired after a visit from a district manager who found the scarf inappropriate work attire. More »
If you think you're lactose intolerant, the National Institutes of Health says, well... maybe you're not. In a statement released yesterday, the NIH claims that lactose intolerance is nowhere near as prevalent as it's believed and that a general misunderstanding of lactose is causing people to not get the Vitamin D and calcium they need. More »
An advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control has recommended that everyone get flu vaccinations from now on, not just people in special higher risk groups. According to WebMD, "the CDC almost certainly will make universal flu vaccination official U.S. policy for this fall's 2010-2011 flu season, as it consistently follows the advice of the panel of outside experts." More »
What's in a name? Just ask Stephanie Madoff, daughter-in-law to imprisoned Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. Seems like Stephanie is finding that the surname she took when she wed Bernie's boy Mark isn't just a badge of shame — it's also a threat to her life. That's why she has petitioned a Manhattan court for a name change. More »
While Toyota chief Akio Toyoda did his best to withstand over three hours of non-stop questioning in front of the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform yesterday, he didn't fare as well when he spoke in front of Toyota employees only a short while later. More »
Following the news earlier this week that a street food vendor in New York City had lost his permit because he left his hot nut cart unattended while he used a nearby restroom, several vendors gathered outside the City's Dept. of Health offices yesterday in protest. More »
While the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform was busy raking Toyota's chief executives over the coals in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Federal agents in Detroit were going all Untouchables-like at the offices of three auto parts suppliers, including one company owned in part by Toyota. More »
Do you teach at Central Falls High? Not for long. You've all been fired. The school is one of the lowest performing in the state and apparently the teachers couldn't come to an agreement about how much they should be paid to do something about it. More »
Every time the topic of national health care comes up, the prophets of doom put on their black cloaks and start their chants of "Big Brother," "socialism" and "move to Finland," painting a picture of a bleak, Orwellian future where baritone-voiced Death Panels decide your fate on a punch card that then gets sent through a pneumatic tube to the waiting Euthanasia Agent. But our smarter, better-looking kin over at Consumer Reports claim it's not all that bleak. More »
Last night, the selfless executives of California insurance behemoth Anthem Blue Cross (and parent company WellPoint) took time away from their usual Tuesday evenings volunteering at the soup kitchen to appear before those pesky members of the State's government who just won't stop harping about Anthem's plans to raise rates on individual policy holders as much as 39%. Anthem's answer: Let's stop all this nonsense and just raise rates already! More »
New York is a big city with a lot of people, each of whom seems to get a parade of his or her own at some point during the year (usually the day I need to get across town in a hurry). But the NYPD has just thrown a dagger into the heart of this float-loving metropolis with their announcement that all parades — yes, even the Macy's Thanksgiving Day thingy — will now be 25% shorter. More »
It's bad enough that so many of the people at the Department of Motor Vehicles treat you like so much gum stuck to the bottom of their shoe, now comes a report that a handful of DMV employees in New York have been getting rich selling fake ID — not to minors trying to score beer or get into R-rated movies — to convicted felons, sex offenders and just about anyone who could come up with the cash. More »
During today's House Committee on Energy & Commerce hearing on the Toyota recall debacle, Congress heard from Rhonda Smith, a former Lexus owner who detailed her 2006 brush with death — and the even more horrid tale of her repeated attempts to get either Toyota or NHTSA to listen to her. Perhaps most chilling, Rhonda even tried to put the car in neutral while hurtling down the road, but not even that could stop the "possessed" Lexus. More »
In these tough times, it's easy to forget about the struggling bankers out there as you dodge their SUVs on your walk to the unemployment office. So it's a good thing they have someone looking out for their financial interests — themselves. More »
A full day before he's scheduled to appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to answer questions about the massive recall of 8.5 million Toyotas, the car giant's President and CEO Akio Toyoda has released the text of his prepared statement. And amid all the "Sorry about that, but we're workin' on it," stuff you'd expect, comes an interesting bit of tid — Toyoda claims that he does some of the testing himself. More »
It's a problem that's common to men and women who drive trucks, make deliveries or work outdoors — When do you go to the bathroom? Well, a law recently passed in New York City gives street vendors an easy answer: Never. Just ask Mohammed Shirajul Islam, a 10-year veteran of the business who is now without a permit because he dared to answer nature's call. More »
As his company continues to circle the drain, Toyota President and CEO Akio Toyoda wants everyone to know that it's not just Toyota drivers that are getting hurt, it's a little bit of him too. More »
An African-American man in Missouri is considering legal action against Pizza Hut after having his name replaced on a receipt with the words "BIGBLACK." More »
Both Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Toyota U.S. President James Lentz are scheduled to appear before the House Committee on Energy & Commerce this morning, but in prepared remarks released before the hearing, these two fine chaps attempt to shrug off many of the accusations hurled at both sides of the Toyota recall debacle. More »
While President Obama was busy attempting to get his plan for a national health care system rolling, those folks at the FCC announced they will unveil their National Broadband Plan — which will provide Internet access to 93 million Americans who can't currently look at home videos of cats — to Congress on March 17. More »
Following this weekend's revelation that Toyota bigwigs were bragging to each other about saving $100 million by convincing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to drop an investigation into a recall of the company's Camry and Lexis vehicles, Congressmen Henry Waxman, Chair of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce and Bart Stupak, Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, broke out their typewriters to voice their opinions in no uncertain terms to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. More »
A U.S. District Court Judge signed off on the $150 million settlement between Bank of America Corp. and the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of making misleading statements during BofA's purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co., but he wasn't exactly happy about doing it. More »
Less than 24 hours after 4,000 pilots for German airline Lufthansa walked off the job, the strike was suspended as talks resumed between the flyboys and girls and the company. More »
Answering all those people who asked, "Shouldn't the Justice Department be the ones handling the Toyota recall hearings?", the car company confirmed today that both federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission have already dropped a load of subpoenas on their desks. More »
Some Citibank customers recently received notice that the bank reserved the right to require 7 days written notice before authorizing a withdrawal on checking accounts. (It's also on page 23 of Citi's Client Manual [PDF].) As you can imagine, this freaked some people out. A Citibank rep quickly moved to clarify the rule, and he pointed out that it's actually required by federal law for certain types of accounts, and it's not unique to Citibank, and they don't intend to enforce it. More »
Using the Health Care bill signed by the Senate on Dec. 24 as a jumping-off point, President Obama unleashed his version of the plan this morning on the White House website. More »
Life can get a little humdrum sometimes, so why not shake things up with an IRS audit? You can't just check off a box and get an audit, you've got to earn it. You've got to provoke them. Here's 10 ways to get some IRS agents knocking on your door: More »
A new report from the Senate Finance Committee alleges that drug company GlaxoSmithKline not only knew about a possible link between their diabetes medication Avandia and heart attacks, but also acted to keep the FDA from pulling the drug off shelves. If so, how were they able to do it? More »
There is no excuse for downloading or copying DVDs illegally. It's wrong and could land you in jail. But, as is illustrated in this BSPCN post, studios could learn a thing or two from their swashbuckling, peg-legged counterparts in terms of streamlining. More »
After several months of waiting (during which, banks have had plenty of time to jack up your interest rates and cut your credit limits), the Credit CARD Act of 2009 has finally kicked in. If you haven't been following the news, here's a quick run-down of what's changed and what hasn't. More »
You know those scenes toward the end of James Bond movies where the bad guy goes on and on about his elaborate plan and what a genius he is? That never happens in real life, right? No, in the real world the bragging is done in "confidential" documents that are never meant to see the light of day... but always do. Just ask the folks at Toyota. More »
Consumerist's Hero of the Weekend is attorney and writer Wajahat Ali, who fought an epic battle for a home loan modification against Wells Fargo and won. Eventually. It's a well-written and terrifying look into the financial crisis, the state of America's megabanks, and how homeowners in need seemingly stand no chance against the towering indifference, incompetence and confusion of those megabanks. More »
Shortly after Toyota chief Akio Toyoda accepted an invite from Congress to appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform next week, committee Chairman Edolphus “Ed” Towns of New York and Ranking GOP Member Darrell Issa of California issued a subpoena to Dimitrios Biller, the car giant's former National Managing Counsel in the U.S., for “all documents relating to Toyota motor vehicle safety and Toyota’s handling of alleged motor vehicle defects and related litigation.” More »
The town of Tracy, California has come up with a new plan to make money: you'll have to pay between $48-400 to call 911. I wonder if Tracy is planning on giving the caller the bill over the phone—they might be able to chain 911 calls together by giving the first caller a heart attack, thereby prompting someone else to call, and so on. Money! More »
Ticketmaster has settled with the FTC over charges that it used "deceptive bait-and-switch" tactics when selling concert tickets, reports the Los Angeles Times. As usual for this kind of settlement, Ticketmaster admits no wrongdoing. For instance, the FTC noted that in one case "the same set of 38 tickets for the Springsteen concert in Washington were sold and resold 1,600 times," and Ticketmaster waited as long as three months to let affected customers know, which is a clear example of not doing anything wrong. More »
Tax Cat here! Filing your income taxes can be even more unpleasant than going to the vet for shots. Especially if, like reader Fletcher, you dutifully filled out your tax return and discovered an ugly surprise: you owe more money than you expected. A lot more. More »
Setting up what is sure to be a thrilling showdown like something out of a Highlander movie, Toyota's President and CEO Akio Toyoda has decided to accept Congressman Ed Towns' formal invitation to appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. More »
Here's the new design for the back of the 2010 penny. Instead of the Lincoln Memorial there's now a shield, or maybe a tiny badge that you can flash whenever you want to announce, "I have jurisdiction over your pocket change." No, I'm pretty sure it's a shield. More »
In the weeks since it was announced that the U.S. Congress would be holding hearings on the current massive recall of Toyotas, the car giant's president, Akio Toyoda, had been saying "Thanks, but no thanks," to the idea of appearing before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. And then yesterday, he softened a bit, saying he would consider attending the hearing if given a formal invitation. Well, Mr. Toyoda... Ask and ye shall receive. More »
The new cool development in security technology is a portable bomb juice scanner that the TSA plans to begin using to detect traces of explosives on your hands. More »
Nearly eight months after the estate of late British author Adrian Jacobs filed charges of plagiarism against the UK publishers of Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, they have decided to add the author of the book, J.K. Rowling, to the list of defendants in what they claim could be a $1 billion case. More »
We had a feeling it would come to this. Lawyers in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have filed a class action lawsuit against Google for, among other allegations, violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act with its recently launched Google Buzz social networking tool. More »
New service "pHarmony" is like eHarmony except it matches together polluters, lobbyists and politicians looking to make that special connection that only money and power can bring! In this satirical Greenpeace video, an oil lobbyist talks about how used pHarmony to find his true special someone, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. He says things like, "We both like to stay up at night and gut energy bills," "It's like we finish each other's legislation," and, "We talked about how much we both don't like Jon Stewart." Worth a chuckle, as long as you don't take it too seriously and get all bent out of shape about it, oh wait, here comes the Consumerist comment section. More »
Finally, after years of settling regional disputes with high school football, a new study has come out that could give some scientific grounding to your "I live in a better county" argument. More »
The Federal Trade Commission has a website at www.ftc.gov/jobscams with information on the types of scams you're likely to find in Help Wanted listings. They've also put together a short video (below) that describes how scammers try to charge job hunters fees to pay for job certification, or to provide access to executive-level interviews, or to acquire study materials that are supposedly crucial to passing a hiring exam. It's a good refresher course in what to look out for when you're answering ads. More »
The CARD act is supposed to go into effect next week, Feb 22. As we get close to the deadline, is your credit card complying with the rules? Courtesy of BillShrink, this giant infographic is here to tell you the answers. Teaser: absolutely zero issuers are doing fair allocation of payments. More »
Walmart is teaming with inner-city Detroit schools to offer classes on how to land entry-level jobs, the raw story reports, citing the Detroit Free Press. More »
In an attempt to save money while rendering its high school graduates even less prepared for adulthood than the likes of Arizona and Mississippi, Utah state senator Chris Buttars is proposing the state making senior year optional and let 11th graders roam free, the L.A. Times reports: More »
Recalls are imprecise and never fully successful, but how can they be improved? Jeff Gelles of the Philadelphia Inquirer took a look at the recall problem with snow throwers manufactured by a company called MTD, and sold under Yard Machines, Troy-Bilt, and Craftsman brands. The snow throwers used plastic wheel rims which sometimes exploded, so in 2006 the company cooperated with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and announced a recall. More »
Ray wanted his happy hour discount at a Sonic in Colorado, and wasn't about to settle for paying more than double the $3.40 he thought he owed. Although his receipt read 4:11, meaning happy hour was over, Ray correctly insisted Sonic's clock was fast. But the restaurant wouldn't budge on the price and Ray ended up leaving in handcuffs, touching off a yearlong legal battle. More »
Imagine giving public transit directions to your urban home in the future. "Oh, yeah, you take the Target Red Line, transfer at Comcast Station to the Apple Gray Line headed Fox Sports Westbound, and finally get off at Taco Bell Station." Seem crazy? Well, you have to name transit stations something, and both Metra and the Chicago Transit Authority are exploring the idea of selling naming rights to stations. They're not the first city to do this. More »
Tax Cat here with a reminder about using a free service to prepare your taxes. Beware sneaky upsells on "free" tax preparation options for people with simple tax returns. We've already seen a Consumerist reader get charged for this unawares with TurboTax, and now reader Shane reports that If you miss an option on H&R Block's form, you'll be paying extra for access to your own data. More »
The West Texas nurse who went on trial this past Monday for reporting a doctor to the state board was found not guilty after just an hour of deliberation, reports the New York Times. The jurors who spoke to the Times after the case said it seemed pretty cut and dried to them. Now the nurse's lawyers are focusing on their civil lawsuit against the county, the sherrif, the county attorney—who is described in the article as the surgeon's personal attorney as well—and the hospital administrator who fired the nurse for going over his head. Hooray for whistleblowers! More »
As the United States continues to struggle to pull itself out of the current economic quagmire, it's good to know that not all American companies are behaving like times are tough. Take Anthem Blue Cross of California, who announced this week that individual policy holders will see an average premium increase of 25% with some rate hikes set to reach 39%, prompting Congress and the White House to demand an immediate explanation. More »
Wired reports that the U.S. Army was interested in purchasing a bunch of Xbox 360s to aid in training, but it was turned down flat by Microsoft. More »
In just a little over a week, the CARD Act will go into effect, and a new set of rules will apply to credit card issuers. Here's a great summary of what will change and what won't, so you'll know what to expect. For instance, did you know that cards issued to business entities rather than individuals are exempt? More »
People of Virginia: Online shopping is great, right? High discounts, cheap shipping and no taxes... oh, wait. Looks like the commonwealth's State Senate Finance Committee voted 14-1 to get the ball rolling on a bill that would levy a sales tax on some products purchased through online retailers. More »
FBI chief Robert Mueller wants ISPs to track everything their customers do on the Internet, and keep those records for two years. The government plan would give the FBI access to "origin and destination information" for all users. Hey, at least they're not doing it in secret and lying about it. More »
This summer Californians will be able to vote on Proposition 17, which if passed will allow insurers to bypass some legal restrictions on how much they can charge for auto insurance. Mercury Insurance Group is a big proponent of the proposition, but maybe that's because it's been possibly sidestepping the law in recent years anyway. Hey, making it legal will just prevent another state report like the one Carla Marinucci at the San Francisco Chronicle obtained, which contains findings that Mercury "has engaged in practices that may be illegal, including deceptive pricing and discrimination against consumers such as active members of the military and drivers of emergency vehicles." More »
As anyone who has tried to carefully count calories knows, the serving sizes on food packages don't have much to do with reality. The FDA has finally realized that putting accurate serving sizes on labels might have an effect on the amount of food Americans cram into our mouths in one sitting. More »
The FTC has sent warning letters to 78 companies about clothing and household products marketed as being made from bamboo. Many of the products were were allegedly made out of rayon that may or may not have originally been derived from bamboo. The offenders include huge names like Walmart, Land's End, Kohl's, The Gap, and Target. More »
Love him or hate him, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), former employee of NBC, made Comcast's befuddled CEO Brian "Comcatastrophe" Roberts look like a complete tool during yesterday's hearing on the proposed Comcast/NBC mergepocalypse. More »
A judicial commission for California judges censured and barred the recently retired judge Brett C. Klein for showing bias, abusing authority, and grandstanding to the press. At issue was his January 2009 alteration of a class action settlement, where he ordered everyone, including the attorneys, to be paid the same way: via $10 gift vouchers from a woman's clothing store. More »
Freecreditreport.com is getting class action sued, baby. Their ubiquitous singing ads make it sound like you'll go their website and get a free credit report, but they don't tell you that's only after you sign up for a $14.95 monthly credit monitoring service. "FreeCreditReport.com tells people they will get something for free, and you do, but you have to pay for something else, and there's not sufficient notice," said John Balestriere, lead attorney. I agree, so I made up my own parody Freecreditreport song: More »
A black man is suing Burger King in a federal discrimination lawsuit because he says white Pennsylvania Burger King employees spat in his burger, the AP reports in a story on the Huffington Post. More »
If your home mortgage was serviced by the defunct Ameriquest or its affiliates, you could stand to receive payouts starting at $1,000. Just enter your loan number on the settlement website and it will tell you if you're eligible. The $325 million settlement came after a multi-state investigation which found shady lending practices that failing to disclose that loans had adjustable rates, failing to disclose the terms of the loan, refinancing homeowners into inappropriate loans, inflating home appraisals, and charging excessive fees. [ameriquestmdlsettlement.com]
The IRS doesn't just draw potential audit victims out of a hat. There is actually a method to its cruel madness, as outlined in this 2006 IRS.gov post spotted by Jim Wang of Bargaineering. More »
"South Butt," sued by North Face for trademark infringement, has filed a delightfully nyah-nyah answer to the apparel maker's legal claims. While North Face asserts that South Butt is sewing confusion and mistake among consumers, and deceiving them, the parody company, intent on a 1st Amendment defense, insists that that "the consuming public is well aware of the difference between a face and a butt." The rest of the fun filing, inside... More »
An anonymous reader says anonymous's mail isn't getting to Anonymous. Even though USPS's delivery confirmation service clearly says Anonymous received the package. More »
If you've got a complaint about an airline, or you want to find out more about whether your complaint is valid, oh boy is there a treat in store for you! Earlier this month, the DOT launched a redesigned consumer aviation website at airconsumer.dot.gov. The goal of the site is "to make it as easy as possible for consumers to find the information they need to make their air travel experience as smooth and hassle-free as possible." More »
What constitutes adequate security for a bank? PlainsCapital Bank in Lubbock, Texas says what it currently has is enough, and if after all that some crooks still manage to steal your money, it's not the bank's fault. The bank has preemptively sued a business customer, Hillary Machinery, to absolve itself from any liability on what it couldn't get back from the more than $800,000 that was stolen by foreign hackers last November. More »
The Obama Administration has been promoting its financial reform proposals almost since the inauguration, and most of the administration's plans, including the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, have wide support among consumer advocates.So, how are consumers doing, and what did the President say last night that might be good news? More »
In 2008, eHarmony responded to complaints that it wasn't serving gay and lesbian customers by setting up a second website, Compatible Partners, and keeping those customers separate from the official site. Some users sued the company, saying anyone with bisexual interests were being forced to pay twice for the same service. Now eHarmony has settled the class action and will allow members of either site to participate on the other one without having to pay a second time. More »
At least Ohio isn't sitting on its stimulus funds. State senator Tim Grendell is raising a stink that the state is spending $1 million of stimulus money simply advertising the fact that it's spending funds on road projects, CNN reports: More »
Frustrated at the number of marijuana dispensaries that have sprouted up since voters allowed its legal medical use in 1996, the L.A. City Council today voted to shut down the majority of them and relocate the rest to the industrial zones. Mayor Villaraigosa will have to sign the ordinance before it goes into effect. More »
Wildcat Rep. Alan Grayson has introduced a new bill that would tax corporate political donations at the eye-popping rate of 500%. The bill is called the "Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act." However popular among the proles, the question is if it would count as an abridgment on free-speech. In any event, "Business Should Mind Its Own Business" is fun to say. [HR 4431 IH]
Supervising nubile teenagers in a fast-food establishment does not mean that you have an open invitation to abuse your authority and demand sex from them. This seems that it would be a self-evident rule of management. It is not. More »
So, a TSA employee allegedly planted a small bag of white powder in a college students carry-on, then pretended to "find it." As a joke! Or something! He's such a kidder! More »
So, we used to have this thing called the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated investment banking from commercial banking. Then we didn't anymore. Now the President has proposed new rules that would effectively restore some of the provisions of Glass-Steagall. Wall Street is like, so not cool with it, however. More »
The burgeoning Twitter libel defense industry was dealt a blow recently when the infamous Twitter defamation lawsuit was dismissed. Apparently, it is quite difficult to craft a Tweet that fits the legal requirements for defamation in this country. More »
The Food and Drug Administration has warned shoppers to be on the lookout for counterfeit versions of the weight-loss drug Alli. The real version of Alli contains orlistat, a drug with side effects that include "an urgent need to defecate," as those with delicate sensibilities like to put it. The fakes are made with sibutramine, a controlled substance that has been linked to high blood pressure in some studies. More »
"Tobacco products today are really the only human-consumed product that we don't know what's in them," the director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products said to the Associated Press. To address that, the agency has told tobacco companies to provide a list of the ingredients in their cigarette brands by June 2010. The FDA says it won't publicize a lot of the data in order to protect trade secrets, but that by June 2011 it will publish a list of "harmful and potentially harmful" ingredients, at which point tobacco companies will have to start listing the amounts of each one on their products. More »
Thousands of passengers were evacuated from the American Airlines terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport after an unidentified person opened a door restricted to airline personnel and TSA officers. Like the Newark incident of a few weeks ago, the offender was caught on camera but has not yet been found. It remains unknown whether he was a criminal or a moron. [Reuters] [NYDN](Thanks, GitEmSteveDave!)
"Serving size: 1 serving," a bag of frozen ravioli I bought recently read. A pasta Zen koan. It wasn't a single-serve bag, so could they give me the serving size in ounces? Number of ravioli? Just how arbitrary is this "serving size," anyway? Slate's Explainer explains: more so than you'd think. More »
The new book Money for Nothing looks at corporate boards: how they're frequently hand-picked and ruled by the CEOs they're supposed to keep in check, how they're sidelined by various conflicts of interest and lack of accountability, and how the worst ones have massively screwed shareholders. More »
The Department of Transportation yesterday announced a new revamped website that will help you complain to them about your various terrible airline experiences. More »
According to the Wall Street Journal, Senator Chris Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, has offered to abandon the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) proposal in exchange for Republican support on other legislation. Nobody is saying anything official right now, but the WSJ reports that "the offer is conditional on the creation of a stronger consumer protection division within another federal agency." More »
If you bought Tyson chicken from 2007 to 2009, you may want to start keeping tabs on the new settlement being considered by Tyson to settle the class-action suit against it. The agreement was filed earlier this week, and a review is scheduled for tomorrow. If approved, approximately $4.4 million will supposedly be available to disburse to consumers. More »
At the National Conference on Weights and Measures later this month, some states are planning to talk about printer ink cartridge labeling and whether it should be more standardized. "It’s time to sort all of this out," the Florida Weights & Measures chief told the Kansas City Star. Of course, printer companies aren't about to go along with any changes quietly—Lexmark has already submitted a letter saying that displaying any information on the cartridges will only confuse consumers, because the cartridges are micro-machines and not just ink containers. More »
The White House could be planning to start charging banks new fees as a way to trim the deficit, get paid back for the bailout, and teach bankers a lesson they hasn't sunk in yet. What?! A fee on banks? You're crazy. Only banks are allowed to make up fees. More »
Travel blogger Elliott is not having a good year. First Homeland Security showed up on his doorstep with a subpoena demanding he name his sources, and now a travel agency is suing him for his reporting about their unauthorized sale of travel insurance. More »
The man who went through security the wrong way, disrupting airline traffic at Newark and thus nationwide, was neither a terrorist nor a dumbass, as we had speculated last week. He was a romantic fool who wanted a kiss from his girlfriend. Okay, maybe that falls under "dumbass." More »
Goldamn Sachs gave out more in bonuses than it earned in income last year, according to a lawsuit filed by a pension plan. The suit says that Goldman's revenue was inflated by government bailouts, yet it continued to pay out 50% of revenue as bonuses. [Reuters]
The FCC has made it clear that apartment complexes can't force residents to use a specific cable company, but Amy Davis at KPRC in Houston reports that there's a sneaky way to get around this restriction. The residents of one Houston apartment complex don't have to go with the building's chosen provider, but if they opt out they'll have to pay an extra $40 per month for trash and water. More »
Tax Cat here! Calling it a "game changing event for the tax system", the IRS announced in a press conference call, that they invited me, a tax cat, to that they're launching 6 sweeping regulatory reforms to clean up the paid tax prep industry. The IRS is not naming names but I'm growling at you, H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt. Numero uno: More »
Some customers who purchased cars during the 2009 CARS rebate program, popularly known as Cash for Clunkers, were entitled to a portion of the scrap value of their old cars, in addition to the government rebate of $3,500 or $4,500. What? And the dealerships didn't tell them? Gasp! More »
The new year is starting off pretty well for bloggers Chris Elliott and Steve Frischling, who had been targeted by the Transportation Security Administration after they posted the TSA's bizarre Christmas Day Security Directive. Elliott reports that the agency has withdrawn its subpoena against him, and that Frischling, whose laptop was confiscated, is getting a new computer courtesy of Uncle Sam. More »
His account apparently compromised by a spammer's program, FCC chair Julius Genachowski sent out a message this morning to all his Facebook friends that said, “Adam got me started making money with this." Adam Smith perhaps? We'll never know, as the website Julius linked to is now unavailable. More »
The Transportation Security Administration has discovered a major new threat, and is targeting it with all methods at its disposal. No, not terrorists. The agency is going after two bloggers, Steve Frischling and Chris Elliott, for exposing its whopper of a policy document, issued Christmas Day in the wake of that day's failed terrorist attack. More »
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has just worked out another penalty settlement with a toy company over those lead-tainted toys that graced shelves from 2005 to 2007. Reuters says RC2 will pay a $1.25 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that it "imported and sold Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway toys with paints and surface coatings that contained lead levels above legal limits." About two years ago, RC2 settled a class-action lawsuit over the same toys. More »
This may not work for everyone, but it worked for Jeff. He tells Consumerist that after he filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy, Sallie Mae representatives continued to call him, which is sort of illegal. So his bankruptcy attorney sued them. And won a $4,000 settlement. More »
Comcast has settled a $16 million class-action lawsuit accusing the Internet provider of preventing customers from sharing files via BitTorrent. The suit alleges that Comcast sold users "unlimited" internet access that was, in fact, quite limited. Comcast still admits no wrongdoing, and affected customers will receive up to $16 each as part of the settlement. Ka-ching! More »
In case you missed it, Senate Democrats managed to succeed at their goal of pushing through some sort of health care reform bill before Christmas Day—the chamber voted this morning 60-39 along party lines and passed the bill. Up next: the Senate and House have to get together and negotiate some final version. If you want to compare what's in the House and Senate versions, the New York Times has put together an excellent side-by-side comparison tool. More »
At least one official with the FCC is not impressed by Verizon's latest explanations of its Early Termination Fees (ETFs) and Mobile Web billing practices. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn released a statement (pdf) last night where she called Verizon's explanation "unsatisfying" and "troubling," and she closed with the fighting words, "I look forward to exploring this issue in greater depth with my colleagues in the New Year." More »
The pay czar has spoken. Late yesterday, the Treasury Department's pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, ruled on whether executives of bailed-out companies can receive higher salaries than the $500,000 limit. Rulings included exemptions for General Motors, GMAC, and Chrysler. Citigroup has repaid enough of its bailout funds that it will be exempt from pay caps in 2010. [Marketwatch]
A federal appeals court has ordered Microsoft to remove custom XML functionality from any copies of Word 2007 that go on sale after January 11th. The ruling struck down Microsoft's appeal of an earlier verdict that technology used in Office 2007 originated with the Canadian company i4i Software. More »
Last month, David Pogue at the New York Times published a tip from a self-described Verizon employee. The employee accused Verizon of deliberately rigging its system to trap customers whenever they accidentally press the "Get It Now" or "Mobile Web" buttons on their phones—even if they cancel the operation immediately, they're charged a fee of $1.99 each time. Both Pogue and the FCC asked Verizon to explain why this happens. Verizon's response: it doesn't, and Pogue and the hundreds of people who wrote in to confirm this practice are all crazy. More »
Airlines must let passengers stuck in airplanes stranded on the tarmac get off after 3 hours, the Transportation Department today ordered. They're also now only allowed to starve you for 2 hours, after which they must serve pizza or a reasonable facsimile. Toilets must be functional during the entire time as well. More »
We went back to the White House this week, for our second interview with Obama Administration economic advisor Austan Goolsbee. In a wide-ranging talk, Goolsbee discussed the Administration's plans to help small businesses get credit, said that the battle against bank lobbyists is on, and expressed amazement that people in DC use the weather as an excuse to miss meetings. "I'm from Chicago," he said, explaining that even blizzards don't stop normal activities there. "We aren't wimps in Chicago." Inside: Video and full transcript. More »
The Federal Reserve announced yesterday it will keep interest rates unchanged at .25% and pledged to keep them "exceptionally low" for an "extended period." Consumers can look forward to cheap mortgages, and low rates of return on savings accounts, for a time to come. [Bloomberg]
Yesterday a bunch of consumer advocates and anti-trust people held a press conference on Capitol Hill and asked the Department of Justice to block the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger. If you, too, feel that this spells nothing but trouble for consumers—that a Ticketmaster-Live Nation monopoly would ruin competition and increase ticket prices—then check out the website TicketDisaster.org. From there, you can contact the DOJ to voice your opinion about the proposed merger, read up on reasons why the merger sucks for consumers and for the concert industry, and sign up for updates. (Thanks to JammingEcono!)More »
Before you can finish your purchase at Buy.com, you have to go through an entire page trying to upsell you to the much-maligned Webloyalty program and click the tiny "no thanks" button at the bottom. You can find it located under the large YES! button. More »
The FTC sued microprocessor giant Intel yesterday, alleging the company had engaged in illegal sales tactics for the past 10 years, relying on backroom strongarming instead of over technical innovation to maintain market dominance. More »
The idea behind military mail is to allow people in a given country to send mail to their loved ones stationed anywhere in the world, for the same price as mailing a letter or package to any other destination in the United States. However, the military paper Stars and Stripes reports that some retailers are increasing prices for customers with APO/FPO addresses, claiming "higher transportation costs." The biggest offender? Walmart. Surprise! More »
New Jersey politicians appear to be engaged in some sort of contest to see who can get the most stringent anti-junk mail law passed. First an Assembleyman introduced a bill a few weeks back that would ban companies from mailing unsolocited checks to consumers. Now the Assembley's Consumer Affairs committee has proposed starting a "Do Not Solicit" list, which would block credit card companies from offering new cards to consumers who aren't interested. More »
No. You do not want to watch this video. Just promise the New York City Department of Health people that you won't drink sugary soda so much. Then we'll all be healthier, happier people, and nobody has to watch this video. (Video is embedded below.) More »
The awesome narrative non-fiction writer Lee Sandlin has posted online for the first time ever his 54-page 1984 essay "The Road To Nowhere - On Suburbia, the Interstates, and the National Defense: A Confession." It's full of little gems like how interstates plowing through poor neighborhoods were justified in part because their increased light would reduce crime and their concrete barriers would serve as excellent firebreaks in the event of nuclear war.
Faster! Leaner! Meaner! Ben Popken rounds up Consumerist.com's top stories of the week, from psychotic stewardesses to deadly foreclosures. This week we introduce a new feature: printing out the internet and turning it into a puppet show.
Motorola handsets, cell phone ringtones, BP propane, Sony VAIO laptops, and the hormone replacement medication Estratest: if you purchased any of these items, you could be eligible for some recently settled class actions. Are you? Well, there's only one way to find out. More »
Thanks to e-mail and online bill payments, mailboxes are a lot less personal than they used to be. According to WalletPop, each week, the average American receives 1.5 pieces of mail they might actually be interested in (yes, including bills), but 16 pieces of junk mail. Evidently, "OCCUPANT" is a pretty popular guy. But when unwanted solicitations are 90% of what's in our mailboxes, why do they keep on coming? How can you make them stop? More »
Reader Justin may have discovered the real reason for California's fiscal crisis. He owes the DMV $14, but says that the DMV doesn't seem to want his money. Which is strange, since this is the opposite of how most people think of the DMV. Maybe they don't have any lines, either. More »
The House of Representatives today passed the Wall Street Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act, with a 223-202 vote. No Republicans voted for the bill, and 27 Democrats joined the nay column, If passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama, the bill would create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and either fix a broken financial system or lead to a government takeover of Wall Street, depending on your perspective. More »
The felony piracy charges against a woman who accidentally taped a few minutes of the film "New Moon" while taking videos of her sister's birthday party have been dropped. The incident occurred at a theater in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, and Cook County prosecutors announced today that they have dropped the case. More »
Idaho Rep. Walt Minnick (D) is trying to abort the the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CPFA). If you care about this agency getting established, call your Reps now (call1-877-445-1317 to get connected directly to your Reps office) and tell them to oppose the Minnick amendment to the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009”, H.R. 4173 that would strip out the provision creating the CFPA. UPDATE: The amendment was rejected, 222 to 208. More »
E. coli, your future is looking as bleak as the Pittsburgh Steelers' playoff chances because a vaccine has overcome some governmental hurdles to enter testing. If approved, the vaccine could stop e. coli from finding its way into 65 to 75 percent of animals, the New York Times reports: More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just completed a survey of wireless customers and a review of the "tens of thousands" of complaints made to the FCC every year, and they've reached a verdict: the FCC needs to step up and provide a better way for consumers to get help. More »
A chain of events over the last month does not bode well for the continued existence of the no-credit-check, allegedly scammy computer purveyor BlueHippo. When the FTC found the company in contempt of its agreement to stop scamming people, Bluehippo's payment processor froze the company's funds with little notice. The company was unable to pay its bills and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Now, the company has changed to a Chapter 7 filing (liquidation) and will most likely go out of business. More »
Senate Democrats have just hammered out a new version of their proposed health care reform proposal, and as a compromise they've removed the part about requiring a government-run insurance program. The public option is still part of the proposal, but now it will only be triggered if the private sector doesn't create some new national nonprofit policies as spelled out by the government. More »
So, all telemarketing robocalls magically vanished a few months ago when the FTC banned them, right? Um, not quite. There are still companies out there exploiting their metallic minions in the name of feeding deceptive information to consumers. This month, the FTC filed suit against three companies that were pumping out "hundreds of thousands or even millions" of calls offering questionable interest-rate reduction services. More »
The administration announced it's extending the $700 billion financial bailout program until next fall. The Treasury said it's important to hold onto money and have it available in case any new catasrophes slam our financial system: More »
Wells Fargo foreclosed on a Rhode Island shelter for abandoned animals, barred former owner Dan MacKenzie from entering the property, and seems to be just letting the animals fend for themselves, the Providence Journal reports. More »
Despite the passage of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act ("Credit CARD Act"), there are still fee traps out there waiting to snare you. More »
In a speech this morning, President Obama is expected to address the economy, and "outline some key priorities for encouraging businesses to invest and create jobs," according to White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer. Will it work? Watch the speech here at 11:15 a.m. EST, and let us know what you think. More »
Would you like to learn how to bring about legislative action in Congress and in your own state to protect consumers? Registration is now open for the Consumers Union Activist Summit, running Feb 9-11 in Washington D.C. The Consumerist gang will be there!
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provided a 65% reduction in premiums for health benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, which you probably know as COBRA. Now the benefits are ending for the first wave of unemployed people who signed up at the beginning of the program. More »
Current and former Walmart employees in Massachusetts (and their lawyers) were awarded $40 million in back wages this week in a class-action lawsuit. The suit was filed eight years ago, and claimed that the mega-retailer owes some hourly employees up to fourteen years' worth of unpaid overtime, missed breaks, and other uncompensated work. More »
A single mom in Seattle thought she was playing by the rules. She earned under $19,000 per year as a hairdresser, supported her two children, and shared a home with her parents. Then the IRS audited her, claiming that she simply didn't earn enough money to be able to live in Seattle, and must be hiding something. Two years and $10,000 in accountant bills later, the IRS has determined that she isn't trying to run a scam, but can't figure out who her children are dependents of. More »
Poor raccoon dogs. For a long time, they've suffered a severe identity crisis at the hands of the fashion industry. Their fur has been mislabeled as "raccoon" fur on clothing labels, and even more insulting, as faux fur by some labels. That's an insult not just to the canines, but to conscientious shoppers who think they're buying items with fake fur trim. Another retailer, Lord & Taylor, has joined J.C. Penney in promising to stop selling products that contain the critters, but mislabeling runs rampant. More »
The Federal Communications Commission has a few questions for Verizon Wireless about their decision to double the early termination fees for contracts that include smartphones and other "advanced devices." More »
The combination of record unemployment and federal stimulus money destined for education has led to an education boom of sorts. Especially for for-profit colleges. Now the U.S. Education department is taking another look at for-profit schools...particularly the tactics used by their admissions staff, and the compensation structures for employees. More »
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog noticed that both health care reform bills currently making their way through our lovely government have provisions that require vending machines to display the calorie counts of items inside. More »
An Indiana University grad student has made public an audio recording of a Sprint employee who describes how the company has given away customer GPS location data to cops over 8 million times in less than a year. Ars technica reports that "law enforcement [officers] could log into a special Sprint Web portal and, without ever having to demonstrate probable cause to a judge, gain access to geolocation logs detailing where they've been and where they are." Update: Sprint says the 8 million figure refers to individual pings of GPS data, and that the number of individuals involved is in the thousands. More »
As the Comcast/NBC mergepocalypse draws near, we wanted to remind readers of the ways that this is going to harm consumers (beyond the obvious things like 30 Rock being promised to come on between 6 and 10 pm and actually airing at 11:30). Join us for a sad look into the future. More »
Letters that children mail to "Santa Claus, North Pole" will be destined for North Pole, Alaska after all, and the letters personally answered by dedicated volunteers. The program was initially shut down for logistical reasons, but restored after Rudolph paid a visit to Fairbanks and taught everyone the true meaning of Christmas. Or something like that. More »
Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield has a microsite game called "Resist The System" where if you ask too many questions the health care receptionist's head explode.
Last week the Senate cooked up a Scooby Snack for the FDA. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee unanimously approved a bill that will make the FDA run around all hyper and bestow it with super strength and ghost-catching ability, the LA. Times reports, though not in those words. More »
Last week, a Brooklyn judge ordered strongly suggested that the law firm of Pressler & Pressler, "one of the biggest in the collection industry," pay a day's worth of income to the man they falsely accused of owing an unpaid debt. To encourage the firm to do the right thing, Judge Noach Dear scheduled a sanctions hearing but told the firm's lawyer, T. Andy Wang, that he might drop it if they pay up. More »
Assemblyman Paul Moriarty wants direct mail marketers to stop sending out those "free money!" checks that auto-enroll you in expensive programs when you deposit them, while a senator has introduced a similar measure. "Instead of relying on tricks, companies looking to sell their services in New Jersey should go back to the old-fashioned way: earning consumers' trust," said Moriarty. More »
With a rising wave of foreclosures looming, the Treasury is stepping up pressure on lenders to finish modifying home loans and to pick up the pace. Potentially exacerbating the problem is that many loans are held by servicers whose fees increase the longer borrowers remain in default.
It appears that when the FTC filed a contempt charge against scamtastic consumer electronics purveyor Bluehippo, the company's bank took notice and froze their accounts. Now Bluehippo has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, claiming that they can't repay their creditors, what with the frozen bank accounts and all. This will not end well. More »
—>Police in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, are withdrawing charges against the two college students who refused to tip at a pub last month, says The Morning Call. More »
—>Microsoft has declared that the owners of banned Xbox consoles have no recourse and no choice but to buy new consoles. Some users see this as unfair and a vast Redmond conspiracy, and law firm AbingtonIP is fighting back with a class-action lawsuit. God bless America. More »
—>Police in Peru say that they've caught a group that was allegedly killing people and harvesting their fat to sell to Europeans who wanted it for cosmetics. More »
—>Lehigh Pub, the restaurant in Pennsylvania that had two patrons arrested for not tipping, was blasted on Yelp in the past 24 hours or so by angry readers. Many of them weren't customers, but heard about the arrests in the news and came to vote down the pub. As of this morning, it had an average of one star out of five. More »
—>The Chicago Sun-Times says that three men have been charged with "stealing cash and property at gunpoint from victims thinking they were meeting to buy televisions and other electronics advertised on Craigslist." The suspects were arrested after police saw "suspicious" postings on Craigslist and contacted the sellers posing as an interested customer. More »
—>New security rules have proven too complex for Alaska's post offices to bear, so they're ending their participation in Operation Santa, the 50-year-old program where letters addressed to "Santa Claus, North Pole" are answered by volunteers. The program will continue elsewhere, reports the Associated Press, but when I called the USPS to find out where letters should be addressed I was told parents should contact their local post offices for information. More »
—>As you probably know, AT&T is currently suing Verizon over the "There's a map for that" ad campaign. The big blue death star says that the maps depict different things, whereas Verizon says the maps are truthful and "the truth hurts." A federal judge says the ads can stay up — for now. More »
—>This security footage from a BJ's Wholesale in Florida shows a man trying to steal two computers, and the store's elderly greeter/receipt-checker giving chase. Almost all the good stuff happens off screen, so you'll have to imagine the awesome karate moves that probably ensued. It's retail crime fighting in action! More »
—>Yesterday T.J. Maxx announced that third-quarter earnings surged ahead 47% as the company attracted great-recession-weary shoppers to its stores. Oh, and there might have been a "hostage" situation in one of its Florida stores. More »
—>Sorry, Mac OS lovers who don't love the price tags on Apple hardware. Apple has emerged victorious in their copyright lawsuit against Mac clone manufacturer Psystar. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup ruled that Psystar is violating Apple's copyright as well as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by selling computers with a modified version of OS X pre-installed. More »
—>Here's a strange story from southeast Missouri. Three years ago a college student was waiting in line at Walmart. Her cousin was waiting in another line that was moving faster. The college student, now a teacher who lives in Louisiana, joined her cousin in the "faster" line. This apparently started a confrontation with other customers (and eventually the police) that may cause the woman to spend 15 years in prison. More »
—>News reports are coming in from several states detailing a debit card identity theft scheme in which thieves steal debit card info and pin numbers, then withdraw money from customers' accounts. More »
—>If you or someone you know were prescribed the high cholesterol drugs Zetia or Vytorin and paid full price or a co-pay, you may be eligible for a refund as part of a recent class-action lawsuit. Manufacturers Merck and Schering-Plough are accused of violating consumer protection laws. While both drugs were marketed as superior to other, cheaper statins on the market, more recent studies showed that the drugs weren't significantly more effective than the older drugs, and could have more harmful side effects. More »
—>I've been wondering how some fast food chains can sell $1 cheeseburgers and still make a profit. Apparently they can't, which is why a group that represents about 80% of the restaurant's franchisees have sued the company over the promotion. More »
—>Maybe this is why stores seem to be getting more and more aggressive about shoplifting: CNN says that retail theft in the US jumped 8.8% over the past year, versus only 1.5% in the prior year. But you may be surprised (only if you've never worked retail) to see where most of the theft occurs. More »
—>Shoplifting is up 20% in the UK as choice cuts of meat, fresh fish and fancy cheeses are increasingly getting stolen, mostly by middle-class women from boutique food emporiums and convenience stores More »
—>The British company Maclaren knew that its recently recalled strollers could potentially lop off a tot's fingertips over five years ago, reports the New York Post, but it didn't bother to alert the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). More »
—>Target has agreed to pay New Jersey$375,000 to settle charges that it sold baby formula and non-prescription drugs that had expired, and that it charged higher prices on some products than what was displayed on the shelves. More »
—>Good news for Pepsico: the lawsuit two Wisconsin men filed, accusing the company of stealing from them the idea that eventually became Aquafina, will have to be judged on its actual merits. The default judgment of $1.26 billion that they received when Pepsi failed to acknowledge the suit has been vacated.More »
—>A Rent-A-Center employee near Detroit has allegedly found a new approach to helping consumers get out of debt: making their bills go away in exchange for sex. More »
—>For secretly stealing users' phone number by exploiting a backdoor iPhone vulnerability, app developer Storm8 got slapped with a class action lawsuit. More »
—>Not only did the UC Davis Medical Center send a $29,186.50 bill to the parents of college student who was beaten to death by his roommate, they also sent a letter letting them know that their son was considered indigent and was no longer welcome at the hospital if he needed further treatment. He doesn't, of course, because he is deceased. More »
—>Since the Beatles are notorious for refusing to release their music online, the mere fact that BlueBeat.com was selling them was kind of strange, which probably explains why EMI just sued them for copyright infringement. But BlueBeat has come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation. The songs aren't really Beatles songs, you see, but "psycho-acoustic simulations" and therefore original works. More »
—>Peter, who wrote in last month to complain about being text-spammed by Payless Shoesource on his phone, wasn't the only customer they annoyed. A man in California has filed a class action lawsuit against the shoe company and Voice & Mobile Broadcast Corporation, which is the marketing company it hired to run the campaign. More »
—>Andrew Cuomo, the Attorney General of New York, has filed a lawsuit against Intel, claiming that the company is an illegal monopoly that engages "in a worldwide, systematic campaign of illegal conduct - revealed in e-mails - in order to maintain its monopoly power and prices in the market for microprocessors." More »
—>AT&T has had it with Verizon's "there's a map for that ads" and have filed a lawsuit. The big blue death star says that the ad is misleading because while the blank spaces in Verizon's map actually show places where there is no Verizon service at all — the blank spaces in the AT&T map may still have voice and data coverage — just not "3G" coverage. More »
—>Facebook won $711 million in a lawsuit against a notorious spammer. Don't cheer too hard, though. The same spampresario owes MySpace $234 million for the same thing. More »
—>It's easy to joke about PepsiCo's Aquafina. After all, it's purified municipal tap water, bottled and sold at prices comparable to juices and soda. But the product is no joke to two men in Wisconsin. In 1981, they discussed their idea to bottle and sell purified tap water with some of PepsiCo's regional bottlers. Allegedly, the idea made its way back to PepsiCo and eventually became Aquafina. More »
—>The trustee who's liquidating Bernie Madoff's firm has released $534.2 million in repayments to some of his victims, reports Bloomberg. The half-billion is a drop in the bucket of total verified losses, which are now more than $21 billion. But hey, those 1,558 victims whose claims were approved for this partial payout are probaby pretty happy—which is more than you can say for the 2,500+ Madoff customers who may be sued to return fake profits. More »
—>It's a natural impulse to want to support the little guy, the David who faces down a powerful Goliath. That's why it's easy to get behind this guy's claims that a copycat business is suing him to force him to abandon his own copyrights. Wtf!, you might say when you read something like that. Is that even possible? It is, and the story is more nuanced when you look at both sides, which makes it a good example of why it's sometimes hard to be a "good consumer" when deciding where to spend your money. More »
—>We know you really want to go see the Phillies/Yankees World Series, but you'll have to find some way to pay for it that doesn't include sex acts. One Philly fan found out that hard way when an undercover cop answered her Craigslist ad. More »
—>KTLA says that five people have been charged with torture, robbery and false imprisonment after luring two loan modification agents to a location and then holding them for hours, beating and robbing them before one escaped. More »
—>Anthony accepted a job at New Jersey telemarketing company Avaya Inc. in September 2002 but decided at the last minute not to start working for the company. More »
—>A class action lawsuit has been filed in Illinois against Best Buy. The suit's claims? That the company has an official policy against price-matching their own web site. You don't say. That claim of a special Intranet site to prevent price-matching against the chain's Web site sounds familiar. So do most of the suit's allegations, for loyal readers of Consumerist. More »
—>The gym chain made famous on NBC's "Biggest Loser" is being sued for continuing to debit the bank accounts of customers who have canceled their memberships. The US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, has given the green light to a class action lawsuit that says the chain is violating both the RICO Act and the Electronic Funds Transfer Act by keeping these zombie memberships active. More »
—>Score a victory for the little guy. Matt Nadeau, the owner of the Rock Art Vermont brewery, which was slapped with a lawsuit by the sue-happy makers of the Monster energy drink for brewing a beer called "Vermonster," has gotten the bullies to step off. More »
—>Is it okay for an alarm company to ask a neighbor to check on its customer? By sending a 70-year-old woman over to check on their 80-something-year-old customer, American Medical Alarms may have helped prematurely end a robbery/beating in progress. On the other hand, they asked a 70-year-old woman to go investigate an emergency next door—basically turning her into a potential Red Shirt. As the heroic neighbor's daughter points out, "They should have already considered the possibility that something like this could happen, and have policies in place to prevent it." More »
—>MoneyGram International announced today that it would pay $18 million to the FTC to settle charges it allowed wire fraud to happen between 2004 and 2008. MoneyGram's press release notes that they disagree with the FTC's view of the matter, but $18 million is a hell of a lot of money to pay if you don't think you were in the wrong. The press release from the FTC, on the other hand, provides plenty of detail illustrating MoneyGram's negligence, as well as the criminal behavior of some of its employees who were in on the frauds. More »
Paul bought a Kindle 2 from Amazon. He dropped it one day, and it sort of broke but not entirely, and Amazon wanted $200 to replace it. Instead, he got them to send him a $400 check, while still keeping the device. How? Paul is generally speaking a very smart cookie, plus he went to law school, so he sent them a very strongly worded letter noting that Amazon falsely indicated the device's durability in a video (embedded here) that shows it falling to the ground unharmed This is the amazing letter he sent them:
Paul Gowder
[Address omitted] August 12, 2009 Amazon.com Inc.
Legal Department
1200 12th Avenue South
Suite 1200
Seattle, WA 98144-2734 Dear Sir or Madam: On June 21, 2009, I purchased an Kindle 2 e-book reader from the Amazon.com website. I purchased this device based, in substantial part, on the expectation that it would be reasonably durable. In particular, I expected that it would be approximately as durable as is ordinary in the consumer electronics market. Amazon.com advertises the Kindle 2 on the basis of its durability. Notably, Amazon.com displays a "drop test" video on the web page for this product. That video displays the device being dropped twice from thirty inches onto what appears to be tile. That video displays a fall with sufficient force that the device visibly bounces, and deliberately creates the impression that the device will function after impacts similar to that sequence of drops. Despite those representations, the Kindle 2 is far less durable. On July 26, 2009, I dropped a messenger bag containing the device onto the sidewalk, from approximately two feet above the ground. It was dropped only once, and the messenger bag absorbed enough of the shock that nothing else in the bag, including a Macbook laptop, suffered any damage whatsoever. (Unlike the drop displayed in Amazon.com's video, for example, nothing actually bounced.) Moreover, there was no visible damage on the exterior of the Kindle 2. Nonetheless, the Kindle 2 became completely unusable, with over 50% of its screen no longer able to display any text. I called Amazon.com support and was told that, because of the accidental drop, you would not be willing to supply a replacement device under warranty. You did, however, offer to sell a new device at a discount, for $200.00. I took advantage of that offer under protest, and explicitly reserved my rights to bring a claim against you based on the unreasonable fragility of the device and the misrepresentations in your advertising. It is that claim that forms the subject of this letter. I am prepared to offer an immediate settlement of my claims against Amazon.com for a payment of $400.00. That sum represents the $200.00 replacement fee I paid plus $200.00 to compensate me for the diminution of utility and value of the device as well as of the e-books I have purchased for that device, in light of the fact that the replacement device, too, can be expected to be far more fragile than advertised and prone to destruction under the slightest stress. This offer expires thirty days from your receipt of this letter. If you do not accept this offer, I intend to bring suit either individually, or, if I decide it is warranted, as representative for a class of similarly situated plaintiffs. At that time, I will seek the amount noted above, plus punitive damages under the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Cal. Civil Code �1750 et. seq., costs, fees, and such other monetary damages as provided for by law, including without limitation Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code �17200 et. seq., the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, and other relevant law. Also, you have demanded the return of the broken device as a condition to the unreasonable discounted replacement offer which I accepted under protest. Your agent has informed me that you will charge my credit card for the full price if the broken device is not returned to you. I am considering seeking a protective order placing that device in the custody of the Court pending litigation. However, should I instead return the device, you are hereby notified that it is evidence in the anticipated litigation to which this letter refers. Should you modify, destroy, or resell the broken device, I will ask the Court to treat that as deliberate spoliation of evidence and make adverse inferences as appropriate. Very truly yours, Paul Gowder
—>It's probably a bad idea to market to consumers by tricking them with practical jokes. It's definitely a bad idea to make a consumer fear for her safety over a five day period because she thinks a stalker is coming after her. That's why a woman in Los Angeles is suing Toyota for $10 million after being on the receiving end of a Punk'd-style stunt to promote the Toyota Matrix. More »
—>One of the weirder strategies by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) recently has been to claim that every time a ringtone played, a royalty should be paid. ASCAP sued AT&T earlier this year over the claim, but a federal judge has ruled that your phone ringing does not constitute a public performance. More »
—>Meet Mr. Vargas. He would like to sell you his stake in some commercial property, a triangular lot just north of Central Park, at Lenox and St. Nicholas Avenues, in NYC. You would like to buy this property, because it's apparently awesome. Unfortunately, after you give Mr. Vargas the money — you find out that the property is owned by an entirely different person. More »
—>A class action lawsuit (PDF) was filed against Cash4Gold in California federal court last Friday, accusing the company of a "massive scheme to defraud tens of thousands of consumers throughout the nation," and racketeering. More »
—>Kate Hanni, the founder of the passenger advocacy group FlyersRights.org, has filed a lawsuit against Delta Airlines in which she claims they hacked her email account and acquired personal email messages sent between her, some journalists, and a guy who was at the time working for Metron, a company hired by the FAA to investigate Delta. More »
—>Matt Nadeau, the owner of a tiny Vermont brewery being sued by the makers of the Monster energy drink for brewing a beer called "Vermonster," has taken his case to the people. He says that trademark attorneys keep telling him the law is with him, but that he should just give up because it will be too expensive to litigate. "This is just about principle," Nadeau told the AP. "Corporate America can't be allowed to do this, in this day and age. It's just not right." More »
—>Fortune tellers are sort of like the con-artist version of the website Significant Objects—the more interesting the story, the higher the price you can fetch for an otherwise cheap piece of crap. Unless, of course, the police arrest you for "fraudulent accosting" at the mall and ruin your con. More »
—>If a retailer doesn't protect your credit card data and it gets stolen, should you be compensated? Not for any unauthorized charges, which are already covered under banks' zero-liability protection, but for the time lost dealing with the problem, for the anxiety it causes, and for any future credit history/score issues it might cause? More »
—>You and I can't get past Walmart's receipt checks with a 12-pack of toilet paper, but one criminal made it past the greeter with a cart full of cash. $200,000 from the store's safe, to be precise. How does that happen? More »
—>So, you roll into Taco Bell at 3:30 am. They're closed. Sure, you're upset, but do you need to shoot the person working there? One guy in Miami thinks so, and he's apparently still at large after shooting a Taco Bell employee in the leg simply because the restaurant wasn't open. More »
—>An Illinois man has filed a class-action lawsuit against MillerCoors because the "Silver Ticket Sweepstakes" code on the case of beer he recently bought turned out to be invalid. The man says he tried entering the code online and over the phone, but it was rejected each time—not because it wasn't a winning code, but because it wasn't a legitimate sweepstakes entry code to begin with. More »
—>Just in case you didn't know, Hansen Natural, makers of Monster Energy, owns all the rights to the letters "M O N S T E R" when they're in that order. Or at least Hansen's lawyers think the company does, because it's going after a Vermont brewery for calling a beer "Vermonster." More »
—>Amazing pills that will make me look younger and lose weight? And it comes as a free trial, you say? Of course I'll try it! Here's my credit card number. What could possibly go wrong? More »
—>Yesterday, the Senate adopted an amendment that will prevent federal funding from going to any contractor that requires its employees to use mandatory binding arbitration, instead of court, for sexual assault and civil rights claims against the company. More »
—>Since 2007, the FBI and authorities in Egypt have been running an investigation they've called "Operation Phish Phry," sigh, and this week it paid off with 53 charges against U.S. defendants and 47 against people in Egypt. Three of the 53 in the U.S. have been arrested, and the FBI are looking for the other 50. To prove you're not one of the remaining 50, please send the FBI your login credentials to your bank. Ha ha, we kid. More »
—>William wrote to us this weekend to point out how little Microsoft does to fight phishing attacks on their hugely popular Xbox LIVE network. It's unfortunate they don't take this sort of crime more seriously, since so many kids—who by all rights should have less experience with phishing—are on Xbox LIVE. Below is what two different Xbox CSRs told William when he contacted them to complain about phishing attacks. More »
—>Cleveland Browns fanatic John "Big Dawg" Thompson, famous for wearing an intimidating bulldog mask in Cleveland's rowdy Dawg Pound section, is suing Electronic Arts for using his likeness in the Madden NFL 10 video game, several video game blogs are reporting.. More »
—>A woman in Iowa was arrested last week for the theft of three video tapes from a local video store. She rented them in May of 1998, and a charge was filed against her in September of that same year after she repeatedly neglected to return them. More »
—>A 27-year-old Pizza Hut manager in Winnipeg, Manitoba, went bonkers last Friday and dragged a 76-year-old customer to the ground over a payment dispute. The manager was arrested, and the customer returned the next afternoon to dine, because he is afraid of nothing. More »
—>As part of a settlement with the customer who sued Amazon over the 1984 fiasco this past summer, Amazon has clarified under what circumstances it can delete your books. Notably, Amazon is not saying that it will never again delete books, which keeps the Kindle in the "do not buy" list for consumers who want unequivocal ownership of the items they purchase. In fact, despite the muted praise Amazon is receiving for doing this, the best we can say about the clarification is that it's about time, but that it still doesn't address the fundamental ownership issues raised by the Kindle licensing system. More »
—>Consumer watchdog George Gombossy this morning filed a 1st Amendment lawsuit against his former employer, Tribune-owned Hartford Courant. There's some gangbusters stuff in the filing, like the part where he says the new owners told him to "be nice" to one of their key advertisers: More »
—>A class action lawsuit has been filed against the City of Chicago on behalf of people whose cars were impounded as part of a police investigation — and then charged outrageous fees to get their vehicles back. The lawsuit covers 15,000 people whose cars were impounded by the city over a five year period. More »
—>Last March, Sally Harpold bought a box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband, then a few days later bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her grown daughter. That put her over the limit for how much pseudoephedrine-laced cold meds you can buy in a week in her small Indiana town, so she was arrested along with 16 other potential meth makers earlier this month. More »
—>Remember that Domino's Pizza, the one in North Carolina where Kristy and Michael recorded themselves doing gross things to the food? The Charlotte Observer has reported that the location has gone out of business, at least for now—"closed signs have been placed in the windows and the phone has been disconnected." More »
—>Freescore.com is one of those online companies that offers a free trial, and then attempts to enroll its customers in a $30/month subscription service. Now they're suing Yahoo in an attempt to reveal an anonymous blogger who quoted a Reuters article when criticizing the service, and who pointed out that Freescore is owned by a company with a reputation for billing customers without permission. More »
—>Dalton Chiscolm has sued Bank of America and its board, and wants "1,784 billion, trillion dollars" in return for being subjected to what the judge describes as "inconsistent information from a 'Spanish womn' [sic]" as well as allegedly misrouted checks. In addition, Chiscolm wants another $200,164,000 in damages. We're not sure why that amount is separate, but who knows how a mind like Chiscolm's works? More »
—>We assume that the typical, well-prepared, parking-lot kidnapper eats lunch before deciding to look for a victim. But Anthony Gibson clearly wasn't well-prepared, and that's a good thing. According to police reports, Gibson kidnapped a Marine from a Georgia Walmart parking lot, and after failing to get any money from him, decided the best thing to do would be to have his would-be victim drive him to McDonald's. Where the staff recognized him as a frequent customer. And where the Marine was able to ask the drive-through attendant to call the police. Oops. More »
—>Every Ponzi scheme has to have a gimmick; something to convince marks that they're investing in a legitimate enterprise, even when they're being bilked of every last cent. For Bernie Madoff, it was an investment fund that offered ridiculously steady returns. For Vance Moore II and Walter Netschi it was ATMs, an incredibly prosaic setup that managed to siphon $80 million from investors who believed they were putting their money into cash machines. The only cash machine, of course, was the fund itself, which Moore and Netschi allegedly operated from 2005 to 2008. More »
—>When a Florida man suffered a heart attack, he needed to leave his job. Between everyday expenses and medical bills, he fell behind on his mortgage and other bills, and debt collectors began calling. And calling. And calling. Eventually, a lawsuit alleges, the stress from the harassing and abusive phone calls led to the man's death. Frivolous lawsuit? Maybe not. More »
—>Ex-Cash4Gold employee Vielka Nephew filed a motion to vacate the default in the company's lawsuit against her this week, a lawsuit we're a party to. By getting rid of the default she would then be able to defend herself in the lawsuit and to seek to undo the default injunction which Cash4Gold had obtained against her. One highlight of Nephew's legal papers is the declaration attached as Exhibit C, in which she says Cash4Gold's lawyers told her the company would seek jail time for her and Michele Liberis if the statements Liberis posted on the internet about the company — which Cash4Gold alleged to be false and defamatory were not removed. Here's what Vielka declared: More »
—>If you visited the New York Times website last week, you may have been surprised to have your browsing interrupted by one of those scammy "we're scanning your computer for viruses OH NO YOU HAVE A VIRUS!" ads that overtake your window. Now Microsoft has filed 5 lawsuits in an attempt to fight back against the jerks who may have been responsible for it, and certainly for other ads like it all over the web. More »
—>Jon wants us to recommend a good lawyer to sue HP for screwing him over on laptop repairs. We do not offer legal advice like that. We do, however, believe strongly in the power of small claims court. More »
—>When Florida businessman David Krop's two laptops were stolen from his car back in February, he didn't have much hope of getting them back. But he decided to try to log in using some remote access software he had installed on one of the computers. The software, LogMeIn, let him in, and he soon found himself seeing the world through new eyes. "Unaware that Krop was spying on his activities, the user of the Toshiba laptop visited porn site after porn site, taking breaks to check e-mail ... and place ads to Craigslist.com for what Krop said appeared to be some kind of female modeling business, " PC World reports. "My eyes just lit up," Krop says. "Just the fact he was online at that moment was amazing." More »
—>The food-safety watchdogs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest report that an Arizona woman is suing the makers of Quorn, a meat substitute made from vat-grown fungus. According to the CPSI, the company does not disclose "the fact that some people have serious allergic reactions to the main ingredient in its Quorn line of meat substitutes." The lead plaintiff in the class-action suit, Kathy Cardinale, says that she became violently ill when eating Quorn's Chik'n Patties. "I felt like the soles of my feet were going to come out of my mouth, I was vomiting so hard," she said. More »
—>An unidentified person has offered $8.75 million cash—more than the asking price—for Bernie Madoff's beachfront home in Long Island. Bidders made sealed offers for the property, and the realtors say they won't reveal any more details until after the deal closes. The house is supposedly very fancy, but if we lived there we'd just tear it up looking for hidden piles of cash. This is why we can never have anything nice. More »
—>So you're working as a door-to-door contractor for Comcast, faced with the task of convincing subscribers to a competitor to get Comcastic and net you some commission. So naturally you decide, "why not disconnect their service, then step in and offer my wares when they'll be more appreciated?" More »
—>Did you hear about the identity thief in Seattle who tried to open a JC Penney credit card account with one of the very women whose identity she had stolen? More »
—>LiveLeak has posted surveillance video footage from earlier this month of a guy in Brazil installing a skimming device onto a bank ATM. The second half of the tape shows him being arrested and officials revealing the device, which just reminds us that the next time we use an ATM, we're first going to take off a shoe and hit everything on it like it's covered in giant ants. See the video below. More »
—>Continuing this weekend's unintentional theme of "toddlers and food service," today we bring you the sad tale of a Quincy, Mass. 23-month-old whose parents are suing Dunkin' Donuts after he was burned by a hash brown. A hash brown that fell out of his mouth and onto his neck. More »
—>In a case that makes a compelling argument for the use of anti-meat-shoplifting dogs, a man in Mary Esther, Florida was caught when grocery store personnel noticed that he was "looking suspicious." He looked suspicious because of the 48 ounces of bacon he had stuffed in his pants. More »
—>Fedex delivered a Florida woman's new laptop computer when she wasn't home. It was okay, though—her neighbor signed for it. Then, allegedly, he pawned it. Somehow, authorities tracked him down. Maybe it was the part where he signed his name. More »
—>Everyone knows that you should never purchase gift cards on eBay or Craigslist, but it turns out that theme park passes in the form of gift cards are just as likely to be fake. More »
—>Albert Gonzalez, a 28-year-old from Miami who was arrested last year and charged with leading "a worldwide ring that stole more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers from major retail chains," plead guilty today as part of a plea bargain. He faces up to 25 years in prison. More »
—>In a victory for little guys worldwide, the Malaysian restaurant McCurry has won an epic trademark battle against McDonald's. Yes, McDonald's. McCurry has been open for ten years, and has spent eight of those fighting McDonald's. They won on the grounds that nobody could possibly ever confuse the two restaurants. More »
—>An Ohio man smashed into an AdultMart store with his car, picked up the sex toy he wanted — after picking up a more expensive model and dropping it — then sped off. And the store's security camera's caught it all on video. More »
—>The smaller versions of Madoff are still out there, convincing people to hand over their savings for foolproof investments that don't actually exist, but every once in a while the authorities nab another one. This week it's Philip G. Barry, a Brooklyn-based guy who operated out of my own neighborhood and happened to run a pornography business. More »
—>Waiting for a rebate from TigerDirect? Good luck with that. In a suit filed last Friday, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is charging the company with, among other things, promising customers that rebates would arrive in about 8-10 weeks of submission, when in fact "a vast number of customers experienced delays ranging from one to more than eight months, before receiving their promised rebates, if at all." The suit also charges TigerDirect with engaging in "deceptive and unfair trade practices." More »
—>I hope we're not editorializing too much by calling these people weirdos, but let's have a look at the facts provided by the Bennington, VT police department: The alleged weirdos ran 450' of extension cord across a Home Depot parking lot in order to power an electric drill that they planned to use to steal the giant chili pepper off of a Chili's. Weirdos, right? That's fair, isn't it? More »
—>A police dog who had lost the scent of an armed robbery suspect located a different crime instead reports Fox News in Boston. The dog led police into a Stop & Shop chasing a masked man who had robbed a nearby Shell station. The dog lost the trail, but did find a homeless man who had shoved a bunch of meat in his pants. More »
—>Chinese state media says that a woman accused of shoplifting was allegedly beaten to death by 2 employees of a Walmart in eastern China. A police report says that the employees stopped the woman on the street near her home (which is also near the Walmart) and demanded to see her receipt. One report says she refused because she was unsure of the employee's identities, another says she handed it over, then took it back.More »
—>We all should have known that at the intersection of a long-lost car, a multi-national pizza chain, and a huge cash reward, there would be litigation. Papa John's owner John Schnatter offered a $250,000 reward for his 1971 Camaro. A couple who formerly owned the car helped Schnatter track it down, but didn't receive the reward because they didn't hold the car's title. They did receive a $25,000 "finder's fee," but claim that the reward should rightfully be theirs. Now the company and the couple are suing each other. [WKLY] (Thanks, Becky!)More »
—>Credit card skimmers aren't just on ATMs and in grocery stores, apparently they're at Taco Bell. The Colorado Springs Gazette reports that a ID theft ring was busted for skimming credit card numbers at a Taco Bell as well as stealing cards from people's gym lockers. More »
—>I've always found Apple Stores to be open and inviting. A team of thieves in New Jersey evidently agree with me. They smashed the front window of the Promenade at Sagemore store in Marlton, N.J. and cleaned out the display models. How long did it take them to steal 23 Macbook Pros, 14 iPhones, and 9 iPod Touches? Thirty-one seconds. Yes, there's surveillance video. More »
—>Holy crap! A random Walmart shopper apparently just went and slapped some other shopper's toddler because the kid wouldn't stop crying. A police report says that the man told the toddler's mother to keep her quiet saying "If you don't shut that baby up, I will shut her up for you." More »
—>Have you taken a bar exam prep course since 2001? Have you shopped at Cache, bought an HDTV, or used creatine supplements? You just might be eligible for one of several recently settled lawsuits. More »
—>A former attorney for Toyota Motor Sales has filed a federal racketeering suit against the company, accusing them of failing to turn over or destroying documents relevant to accident victims' lawsuits against the company. More »
—>Everyone (including us) snickered when an unemployed woman sued the college she had graduated from only months before, but the news story did help bring to light the overly optimistic or outright misleading claims made by some for-profit educational institutions. Now, thirteen former students of Everest College's Dallas campus have sued the school, claiming that they were misled about the transferability of the school's credits and their prospects for employment. More »
—>While he governor of California is autographing cars as part of his state's massive garage sale, his colleagues in West Virginia, Vermont, Wyoming and Washington state are receiving mysterious HP and Compaq laptops in the mail, and are possible victims of identity theft. More »
—>I'm no connoisseur of chicken wings, but I've heard that they aren't supposed to contain fur. However, that was what a woman in Des Moines allegedly found in her hot wings. She's stashing the unacceptable food item in her freezer until further notice. Is it an Iowa Fried Mouse, or something else that doesn't belong in a meal? More »
—> This is probably something we shouldn't have to tell you, but apparently some people are confused. For example, this guy: He decided to drive his 1983 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit through the wall of a store after a dispute over the delivery of a mattress. More »
—>The Federal Reserve tried to hide the identities of companies that received emergency funding as the world economy went to hell, but a federal judge stepped in with a backhand Monday and stopped the practice, saying the Fed had failed to show that naming the businesses would cause "imminent competitive harm." More »
—>No matter how awesome the iPhone is at multimedia, gaming, or taking money out of your wallet and mailing it to AT&T and Apple, it still doesn't let you use multimedia messaging service (MMS)—you know, that thing where you send a photo to a friend over text message. Earlier this year AT&T finally said it would happen by the end of summer, but now a group of customers in Louisiana are tired of waiting. More »
—>[Note: The original headline for this post mistakenly identified Ameritrade as the subject of the post. It is actually Ameriprise Financial. I deeply regret the error.] Since March of this year, security expert Russ McRee of HolisticInfoSec.org has sent 6 messages to Ameriprise Financial warning them of easily exploitable security holes on their website. They ignored every request, while at the same time reassuring customers that "No one without the proper web browser configuration can view or modify information contained on our systems." More »
—>This $100 flat-screen TV this random dude is selling out of his car in a Walmart parking lot is a steal! Specifically, he is stealing your money by substituting a sticker-covered oven door for a TV. More »
—>If you work at Best Buy, don't tackle any knife-wielding shoplifters or you'll be fired. That's what happened to two Best Buy employees who chased a couple shoplifters who were fleeing with armloads of merchandise towards a waiting car. More »
—>After it broke last week that Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa was claiming it was the fault of the victim and her two toddlers that she was raped in their parking garage, the hotel has decided to withdraw the claim. They also apologized for the rape in a general sort of way—but not for subpoenaing her friends and professional acquaintances who otherwise would not have known about the crime. More »
—>According to a lawsuit filed by a Verizon customer in Queens, NY — the tech the company sent out wasn't quite as affable as the ones in the commercials. Instead of fixing the customer's problem — the tech allegedly punched him in the face. More »
—>[Update: Marriott has dropped the appeal.] If you want to live dangerously, why not try an unrelaxing visit to the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa? It features a game room, a BBQ/picnic area, $10 a day Internet access, and the occasional mentally unhealthy transient wandering for days around the parking garage waiting to attack you. Best of all, if you are attacked Marriott will let you take all the credit for it, and then subpoena your friends and professional contacts, thereby permanently ruining any anonymity you hoped to maintain. Because at Stamford Marriott, if you're raped in our parking garage by a guy our security should have noticed and kicked out, don't come crying to us! More »
—>Thanks to a Texas judge's ruling earlier this week, Microsoft has been prohibited from selling or supporting any more copies of Word that can edit XML-based documents. A Toronto-based company, i4i, sued Microsoft in 2007 over its XML editing patent, and the judge ruled in i4i's favor. The ruling kicks in 60 days from now, unless Microsoft decides to appeal. We have a feeling it will. More »
—>The FBI is currently searching for this man, a bank robber with a keen eye for t-shirts. He robbed the Commerce Bank at 8050 Big Bend in Webster Groves, Missouri by handing the teller a note which read, "I have a gun. I will kill you. Give me your $100's and $50's." More »
—>An end of shift security check of a San Antonio, TX UPS driver led to the discovery of items intended for delivery to a jewelry store. According to the AP, the driver had apparently been stuffing the jewelry into his shoes instead of delivering it. More »
—>First, there was Airborne. Then there was Rite-Aid's house brand version of Airborne. Now, the Walgreens brand of homeopathic cold and flu remedy was also the subject of a class action lawsuit, and the settlement is at hand. More »
—>Dear kid of abusive mom: yes, this is what it feels like for us when we deal with cell phone retailers, too. At least your mom was arrested. Video below. More »
—>A Boston jury yesterday ruled that file sharer Joel Tenenbaum would have to pay the Recording Industry of America $675,000 for sharing 30 copyrighted songs. The hefty award was all the more surprising because Tenenbaum was represented by a crack team of legal eagles from Harvard's law school. The trial didn't unfold nearly the way they planned... More »
—>The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that several baggage handlers working for a company contracted by Delta Airlines were busted in a sting operation that was launched following the theft of a handgun from a retired police sergeant's luggage. More »
—>I was never much for writing in books in school, though I did use Post-Its frequently. Which is a precursor to leaving digital notes in a Kindle edition of the book. A Michigan high school student is one of the parties in a class action suit against Amazon because in deleting the unauthorized MobileReference edition of 1984, the company effectively ate his homework. More »
Shopping tip: If a strange man asks you to try on some shoes "for his wife," say "NO." [Mail-Tribune] More »
—>Bernie Madoff has given his first prison interview...to attorneys representing his victims. Highlights: He's quite candid now (what has he got to lose?), he can't believe that he got away with running an epic Ponzi scheme for as long as he did, and apparently he's been working out. More »
—>If the the puiblic didn't read Amanda Bonnen's Twitter feed before, they will now, thanks to a defamation lawsuit brought against her by Horizon Group Management in Chicago. More »
—>Banks don't believe in first come, first served, when it comes to processing your transactions. Instead, it's biggest appetite, first served. In other words, they process a batch of debits on your account by order of largest to smallest. The result, critics, and now, several lawsuits, charge that it maximizes the overdraft fees they can harvest. More »
—>Here's one more reason to avoid mystery shopping scams: you could be the one who ends up in jail. A woman in Minnesota answered a "mystery shopper" email (that she found in her spam folder, sigh) and signed up. It turned out to be the old check fraud scam—they sent her a $2700 check and told her to deposit it and keep $300 a payment, then use the rest to make mystery shopper purchases. She took the check to her bank, and her bank called the police. More »
—>Denny's entrees are loaded with dangerous amounts of salt, according to a class action suit filed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The CDC recommends consuming no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium each day, but some Denny's entrees contain a whopping 5,500 milligrams. More »
—>Two men "of no fixed address" were charged in Maryland earlier this month with tampering with an ATM and skimming funds. The men, currently in custody in Oklahoma for similar crimes, allegedly added a skimmer and camera to an ATM at a Maryland PNC bank in April, but police weren't notified of the tampering until May 20th. More »
—>Reader Stephen says that a NYC Taxi driver tricked him into using an ATM skimmer-like-device instead of the normal credit card machine and made off with his card and PIN. The NYPD made an arrest, but Stephen says he's still battling with Chase/WaMu. More »
If you're an E*TRADE customer who lives in California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, or Washington, you may be eligible for a class action settlement regarding the undisclosed recording of phone calls. The deadline to file your claim form is September 25, 2009. [Settlement site] More »
—>A man in Mission Viejo, California, says when he began eating his french onion soup over Easter brunch at the restaurant Claim Jumper, he bit into something rubbery. He "spit out the piece of cheese only to discover he had been chewing on what his wife claimed was a condom." More »
—>If you feel like had to pay too much for baby supplies this past decade, look to Babies R Us. Time reports that last week, "the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia granted class-action status to a complaint that Babies 'R' Us coerced manufacturers of high-end strollers, car seats, high chairs, strap carriers and breast pumps into preventing Internet retailers from discounting their products." More »
—>We know how you feel; telemarketers suck. But no matter how much they're in the wrong, please don't threaten to burn down their place of business and then kill them and their families—even if they call you a jackass—because they may report you to the police. Then, if your police are anything like the ones in St. Louis, Missouri, you'll likely be arrested and charged for making terrorist threats, like poor Charles Papenfus. More »
—>Various water parks in Florida have taken on a weird Westworld vibe this summer, only instead of robots gone mad it's fellow parkgoers, and instead of trying to kill you they're trying get at your genitals. And by "you" we mean teenaged girls and boys. More »
His name was "Erick," and after earning respect and responsibilities at the Arco gas station he'd been working at for 8 months, he dissapeared, leaving behind only a hidden credit card skimmer that stole $300,000 worth of debit card info from reams of customers. Police believe that "Erick," pictured, was a low-rank solider in an organized crime ring who had been given the assignment of working his way up the ladder at the gas station until he was in a position to place the credit card skimmer, a type of con known as the "model employee" scam. As a shopper, protect yourself from skimmers by only using cash, credit cards, or swiping your debit card as credit. Russian or Armenian Mob Used "Model Employee" Con at PCH Arco [LA WEEKLY] (Thanks to Angela!)
—>Two workers at JFK airport fell into a trap set by Delta Airlines and the TSA, says the Daily News. The two men are accused of stealing a Macbook Air and a T-Mobile Sidekick from decoy luggage. The first man, a TSA officer, was videotaped rummaging through a Miami-bound suitcase in an airport screening room while a baggage handler watched. More »
—>Some guy in London fell for an online iPhone scam in January, so he paid $150 to emailfinder.com to track down the identity behind the Hotmail account of the person who scammed him. Now he's suing Kim, who is completely unrelated to this story (or was, at least), for $4,368 to cover the $1200 he lost on the iPhone scam plus travel expenses for him to show up in small claims court here in the U.S. More »
Best tweet of the day: "my bank was just held up- with me in it. HSBC 34 and 8. also my whole trackball is GONE!!! im locked in the bank still." [Gothamist] (Thanks to John!)More »
—>A manager at Chemical Bank in Midland, Michigan, grew suspicious when he saw Marion Case, an 80-year-old customer, withdraw $25k from her account last December. Case told him she was going to mail it to someone who would then pass it along to her son. The manager, Carl Ahearn, "remained suspicious. He followed her as she walked to the nearby post office, where Case bought an Express Mail envelope addressed to a man in New Jersey. Ahearn shared his concerns with postal officials, who opened an investigation and arrested a man Monday for fraud." More »
—>Hey dumb crooks, if you're going to rob a place be sure not to wear a uniform with your company's name on it and drive a van plastered with a nationally recognized logo. It makes it really easy for the police to catch you. On second thought, do just that, please. More »
—>We're pretty impressed that this member of the Washington Sports Clubs at the DC USA Mall helped catch a thief. We're a little stunned, however, that the staff at the gym let the guy enter in the first place without making sure he had a membership, or that they did nothing to stop him as he ran out with someone behind him yelling, "Stop! Thief!" Thankfully an off-duty cop pursued and apprehended the guy, and the member got back his wallet. But what's the point of a gym membership and a staff if you're completely on your own once you get there? More »
—>Watch out for organized, highly trained teams of shoplifters in your local mall. They aren't small-time operators—they stole $23,000 worth of bras and panties from a West VirginiaVictoria's Secret. No, really.More »
Pez Candy is suing the Pez musuem in Burlingame, CA for copyright infringement. The museum has a 7-foot-tall Pez dispenser that they want destroyed. Maybe Pez should make a new candy flavor called "Copyright Overkill" that tastes like all the joy has been removed. [Laughing Squid] (Thanks to sizer!) (Photo: Hryck.) More »
—>Comcast-subscribing NFL fans did the Ickey Shuffle back in May when the NFL Network and Comcast revealed that they'd made nice and the channel would made available to Comcasters on the "Digital Classic" package for no additional charge Aug. 1. More »
—>Not content to let the RIAA get all the recent publicity for stupid lawsuits, ASCAP has sued AT&T over sales of ringtones, saying each time a ringtone plays it's a public performance and royalties should be paid. Luckily (?) for consumers, ASCAP wants AT&T, not individuals, to pay—although we wonder what they'll say when you take a track from your own library and make a ringtone out of it. More »
—>Did you file a claim form in the Dell multi-state settlement earlier this year? Have you received your check yet? According to the FAQ posted by the attorneys general of states participating in the suit, Monday, June 22 was the deadline for Dell to mail checks to consumers. More »
—>One of the acai berry's most miraculous powers is its ability to filch hundreds of dollars from consumers who are seeking new ways to lose weight and live forever. Now one company known for marketing an acai elixir has settled a lawsuit from the Arizona Attorney General over charges of deceptive practices. More »
"Mr. Madoff is currently 71 years old and has an approximate life expectancy of 13 years," wrote Sorkin, whose letter was released on Tuesday. "A prison term of 12 years - just short of an effective life sentence - will sufficiently address the goals of deterrence, protecting the public and promoting respect for the law." More »
It turns out X-ray glasses don't work, at least not the ones this guy in Korea was selling. [Korea Times] (Thanks to Andrew!)More »
—>Back in March, Steve Bierfeldt was pulled aside while going through the security line at Lambert-St. Louis (Missouri) International Airport, taken to a room, and questioned for half an hour about the box of cash he was trying to check through. Bierfeldt, who works for a Ron Paul organization, recorded the conversation. Now with the help of the ACLU he's suing the TSA. More »
—>Just when you thought that you and your ATM card data were safe from criminal eyes, Scientific American brings a different sort of threat. This time, the skimmers are inside the machine. Malware within the ATM itself harvests enough data to do some very bad things. More »
—>If a man says he's a police officer and flashes a badge at you, then tells you to have sex with him or he'll arrest you, make sure the badge doesn't say Geek Squad on it first. That's what a woman says happened to her in Parsippany, New Jersey last week. More »
—>Thomas Kinkade calls himself the "Painter of Light," and allegedly uses his "faith" to lure in investors to his gallery business. Now two former gallery owners have won a judgment from Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that forces Kinkade to abide by a 2007 arbitration decision that awarded the former owners $860,000 in damages and more than $1.2 million in attorneys' fees and arbitration expenses. Ouchy. More »
—>The long, sad saga of lawsuit-bedeviled MP3-ripper Jammie Thomas-Rasset reached a harrowing twist Thursday when Minneapolis federal court found her guilty of willful copyright infringement for sharing more than 1,700 songs. The judge says she owes the RIAA $1.92 million. More »
—>The Wall Street Journal says that Matrixx, the manufacturer of the allegedly smell-destroying cold remedy Zicam, is defending their product, but also admits that they didn't share 800 reports of smell loss with the FDA. Despite this, they described the FDA's warning about Zicam as a "complete surprise." More »
—>Microsoft feels it was tricked out of $750,000 in online ad dollars by three Vancouver residents, so it's suing their pants off and trying to set a new precedent for throwing legal heft around in the digital advertising world. More »
—>A White Castle in St. Paul, Minnesota, is a 24-hour establishment, but it locks its dining room doors at 11 pm. Unfortunately, its drive-through service is restricted to customers in cars, so the employees refused to serve a 37-year-old woman who pulled up on an electric mobility scooter. Now she says she's madder than fish grease, which is pretty mad, and she wants to sue them for discriminating against customers who can't drive. More »
—>We know how much you just loooove those car warranty robocallers, so we couldn't pass up an opportunity to introduce you to the folks the FTC says is behind the robot army. More »
—>The Daily News says that one Brooklyn man is fed up with writing emails to potential dates on Match.com and never getting a response. It's not that he has a "bad personality" — it's that the profiles are of people who have canceled. More »
—>Look, another update! I think I misinterpreted the point of the legal threats yesterday when I wrote this post. As Savage listeners point out in the comments below, Michael Savage has never hidden the fact that his son is the CEO of Rockstar Energy Drink. The legal threats seem to be against people who are claiming that Michael Savage is directly involved in the company, which he is not. And no, there's no behind-the-scenes shenanigans at work here making me post this; I just feel I need to clarify it after reading the comments. More »
—>Here's the official court filing (PDF) so you can get the full details on how Wells Fargo pushed or even fraudulently placed black borrowers into sub-prime loans, even when those borrowers could afford prime loans, along with an office environment where employees threw around racist slurs, calling black borrowers "mud people" and their mortgages "ghetto loans." The official statements referenced in the NYT article are in this document in full. The affidavits begin on page 48. Two screenshots inside... More »
—>Nothing salves buyer's remorse like a match in a fuel tank. Citing National Insurance Crime Bureau figures, a Los Angeles Times story says car owners are resorting to nefarious means to put an end to burdensome car loans. In the first quarter of the year, suspicious fires or arson were up 27 percent for the first quarter of the year and cases of intentionally destroyed cars shot up 24 percent. More »
—>The California Supreme Court has effectively reversed a 2004 San Francisco trial court decision that ordered BofA to pay $284.4 million in damages to more than 1.1 million customers. The California Supreme Court ruled that banks can tap Social Security benefits in bank accounts to cover bounced-check fees, a practice consumer advocates say is abusive because Federal law prohibits Social Security benefits from being seized to pay a debt. California law apparently doesn't consider overdraft fees to be debt, so the fee party will be allowed to rock on indefinitely. More »
—>Today, as expected, is a crappy day for former Countrywide CEO and co-founder Angelo "Orangey Orangerton" Mozilo. The SEC is suing Mr. Mozilo along with several of his colleagues, claiming that they profited from stock sales while hiding information from investors. More »
—>Here's an interesting little lawsuit from West Virginia. A customer is suing Lowe's, claiming that installers contracted by the hardware giant drilled into his water lines. Not once. Not twice. Three times. More »
Did you use a credit card at a Sports Authority store in California between April 30, 2007 and April 30, 2008? If so, you're eligible for a class-action settlement. At that time, the store required customers to give their zip codes during all credit card transactions. A customer filed suit because he believed this was an invasion of his privacy. Class members receive a $20 voucher to The Sports Authority. (via Slickdeals - Thanks, Toland!)More »
—>Late last month, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed a complaint filed by a woman who said she'd been buying Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries cereal for four years under the assumption that crunchberries are a real berry. "The plaintiff, Janine Sugawara, alleged that she had only recently learned to her dismay that said 'berries' were in fact simply brightly-colored cereal balls." More »
—>"Litigant Alert" from WebRecon promises to help debt collection companies ferret out "overly-litigious debtors" with "a history of suing collection agencies." It's basically a Do Not Call list of troublemakers who had the nerve to fight aggressive collection practices with the law. Debt collectors are apparently willing to pay $1,595 to figure out who they should leave alone. More »
Looking for updates in the New Zealand bank error fugitives case? According to various news reports. the couple have split up to evade capture, the sister who posted the fateful Facebook message is back in New Zealand, and the couple face seven years in jail once they are caught. More »
—>This fall, credit card processors will being rolling out a new approach to preventing data theft, based on the assumption that it's impossible to thwart every attack. Instead of keeping 100% of criminals out, they'll segment and encrypt the data into such small chunks that it will no longer be a cost-effective crime. More »
—>If you paid with plastic at Olive Garden in 2006-2007 then they might just owe you a $9 appetizer. The Italian eatery was recently sued in a class-action lawsuit stemming from a 2006 change to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which made it illegal to print more than the last five digits of a customer's credit card number on a receipt. Olive Garden never stopped its practice of printing the last six digits, and could soon be issuing $9 "apology" vouchers to every customer affected. More »
—>Last week's word that Comcast and the NFL finally put their blood feud behind them to make the elusive NFL Network available on the basic digital tier was nice and all, but the out-of-nowhere bonus that the Comcast would also snag Red Zone Channel, which lets you keep tabs on all the games simultaneously, was a phenomenal revelation. More »
—>You know how it goes. You go out and have too many beers, then post a Facebook update with a bit too much information about your evening. Maybe you take it down once you sober up the next day, but not before the damage is done. More »
—>Cigarette companies have conspired for decades to defraud and mislead the public about the health risks of "light" and "low-tar" cigarettes, a federal appeals court said yesterday. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that a federal district judge was right to ban the terms from appearing on cigarette packages. Under the ruling, cigarette companies may soon be required to issue a public mea culpa admitting that they were killing people when they said cigarettes were safe and non-addictive. More »
—>We've heard about quite a few recent class-action settlements that you just might be eligible for, as well as cute little baby suits still looking for claimants. Products included: energy drinks, name-brand prescription drugs, and zombie microwaves. More »
—>Sara Lee, maker of Ball Park Franks, has sued Kraft, manufacturer of Oscar Mayerhot dogs over advertising that claimed that the Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef Franks beat Ball Park and ConAgra Foods' Hebrew National hot dogs in a national taste test. Turns out, it wasn't that simple. More »
—>Craigslist has announced that they are suing South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster "seeking declaratory relief and a restraining order with respect to criminal charges he has repeatedly threatened against craigslist and its executives." It's on, people. More »
—>It's official, the NFL Network and Comcast have finally reached an agreement that will bring the football-only network to the majority of Comcast's subscribers. So, who caved? More »
—>Woody Allen found a new way to make ends meet other than that zany "sell movie tickets to people" scheme: He waited until American Apparel made an unauthorized billboard using his graven image, then sued the crap out of them for $10 million and settled for half the amount. More »
—>But not for her advice* or her fashion sense, as you might expect. In addition to doling out advice on TV and in books, Orman is a licensed insurance broker in California, and in 1999 her firm the Suze Orman Financial Group sold some long-term care insurance to Ann Garat, who developed ovarian cancer two years later. When Garat filed a claim, CNA Financial—the issuer of the insurance—rejected it, saying their fine print stipulated it wouldn't cover care from family members. More »
—>"Oh hell no!" Federal District Judge John F. Grady told a marauding group of car warranty robocallers who managed to annoy pretty much everyone over the past few months. The judge slapped two Florida companies with an immediate restraining order and froze their assets, which should be enough to finally end those maddening robocalls. More »
—>As anticipated, the FTC has filed suit in federal court in Chicago against many of the companies behind the car warranty robocalls plaguing the nation. More »
—>Freddie writes that his friend was tricked by a phishing email. All the warning signs were there to tip off his friend—an email saying he needed to click a link, a suspicious url, a page asking for his login info—but he clicked and entered the info anyway. Please do not be like Freddie's friend, who is now probably on the phone with the real Wells Fargo trying to get his account number changed. More »
—>PBS's documentary show FRONTLINE took on Bernie Madoff this week, exposing the history of his operation and how the SEC let him slip through their fingers. More »
—>Four Romanian nationals in Florida have been charged in a series of ATM skimmer frauds that targeted banks in New York City, Cicero (near Syracuse), NY, and Rochester, NY. They are charged with, among other things, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit credit card fraud. According to the Syracuse office of the Secret Service, they stole $1.8 million overall. More »
—>A little over two years ago, a Virginia man ordered a a drink and two sandwiches from Burger King. He then proceeded to take a bite and swallow— before he realized that his "specific request for the omission of onions, pickles and tomatoes had not been complied with." The result? A lawsuit for $100,000 filed in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court. More »
—>Who pays for a six-piece McNugget with a $20 $50 bill? Counterfeiters, that's who, and the McDonald's near Madison Square Garden is ready for them. Sorry guys, you're going to have to ask Wendy's to anonymously break your shadily large bills. More »
—>Kristy Hammonds, the woman who filmed her friend Michael doing inappropriate things to the food they were supposed to be preparing, needs a job to feed her two kids. She says she's been trying to get work at other fast food restaurants, though, which might be part of the problem. More »
—>The Washington Post says that a hacker encrypted 8 million patient prescription records from a Virginia state website last week, deleted the backups, and replaced the home page with a ransom note. If the state doesn't pay $10 million within 7 days, the hacker has threatened to sell the data to the highest bidder. More »
—>Don't walk out of Kohl's without first double-checking your receipt. The store apparently has a penchant for overcharging customers, according to the Sacramento County Department of Weights and Measures, which fined the chain $2,000 for repeatedly failing surprise inspections. CBS sent an enterprising reporter to see how long it would take for them to uncover a pricing discrepancy of their own. Almost immediately, they found a woman who was charged $64.99 for a pair of shoes marked $59.99. More »
—>Taking a page out of Monster Cable's playbook, Abercrombie & Fitch has threatened to sue merchants in Hollister, California who sell clothes bearing their town's name. A&F claims that local merchants putting "Hollister" on their clothes will confuse notoriously inept surfers who can't distinguish between a town and A&F's Hollister Co. line. So what happens if the locals defy the upscale bully? According to David Cupps, Abercrombie's general counsel and harasser-in-chief, "If they try, they would get a call and much more." More »
—>22-year-old Jennifer Sorbello got an extra-special welcome to Chuck E Cheese when William Thigpen, dressed as Mr. Cheese, reached out and groped her breast. Sorbello is suing the restaurant, claiming she has been "damaged in the form of emotional distress and humiliation." More »
—>Here's another "I bought a box of rocks!" story, only this time there's proof that the victim wasn't pulling a dirty trick on Walmart. Instead, it was someone before her who bought and then returned a Nintendo DS, only they swapped out the unit with rocks before making the return. More »
—>How can you tell you've made it on the Internet? How about if you're turned into spambait? MSN Money reports that scammers are taking advantage of the sudden interest in swine flu by using it in subject lines to get people to open messages and download attachments. Don't do it! Tell your friends and relatives not to do it, either! More »
—>The last line of defense against armed robbery at Fry's: receipt checks. Three men loaded up carts with merchandise at a San Diego store, and just headed for the door. More »
—>Verizon continues its recent campaign of turning robocallers into charitable contributions, this time by settling a lawsuit against two of the companies behind those awful car warranty calls. Last time it was for $25,000; this time it's for $50,000, all of which is being donated to the Joyful Heart Foundation, which Wireless Week describes as "a nonprofit devoted to empowering survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse." More »
—>Instead of getting his money back, one Radio Shack customer got a sock in the jaw when he tried to return something. According to the police report, the employee wouldn't let the customer return the item. When the customer asked to speak to a manager - kapow! And you thought the worst thing you had to worry about was if you kept your receipt! More »
—>Vermonters get a better deal on gas than Texans. Fuel expands in the heat and shrinks in the cold, so 5 gallons of "hot fuel" won't get your car as far as 5 gallons of regular. Oilmen know this, and that's why at various points in the supply chain volume gets adjusted for the industry standard temperature of 60 F. The retail pump isn't one of them. That might start to change if a proposed class-action lawsuit settlement with Costco as a defendant goes through. Under the terms, Costco would fix its pumps in the bottom half of the country so that they dispense fuel at 60 F. If it goes through, it would be a precedent-setting consumer victory. After all, you want a Tiger in your tank, not a Heat Miser, don't you? More »
—>When you think "prescription drugs," you think of clean, sterile facilities, not three stoners driving 100 mph down I-15 with $30,000 of Walmart's prescription narcotics in the backseat. Cops pulled the trio over, which included two illegal immigrants, and called Walmart to confirm that these were the folks employed to deliver their dirt-cheap drugs. "They said yeah they were expecting a delivery and the driver was late." More »
—>19-year-old West Virginian Rebecca Sue Taylor is facing felony charges after trying to sell her five-month-old son for $10,000 to raise money for a new apartment. Taylor was in talks to act as a surrogate mother for Leigh Burr, but then realized she could skip a few steps and still turn a buck. When it looked like negotiations weren't going well, Taylor, who claimed she had been "unable to bond with the infant," dropped the price of her son to $5,000. More »
—>Customers from Washington, Hawaii, Minnesota and North Carolina have teamed up to file a lawsuit against Clearwire for misrepresenting the quality of its hit-or-miss wireless network, and then charging ETFs for account cancellations even when there's no service as promised. If they win, Clearwire will be banned "from enforcing the Early Termination Fees and from further false advertising." More »
—>At Settlers Life Insurance, being shot in the back by unknown assailants is trumped by Hepatitis C, and they won't pay your benefits. According to the lawsuit filed last week (pdf), Curtis McCraw held a life insurance policy with Settlers Life Insurance at the time of his murder in April 2008. When his wife Stephanie McCraw attempted to claim the Accidental Death Benefit, Settlers denied her claim because her husband had "a pre-existing liver condition." We knew Hepatitis was bad, but we didn't know it could pull out a gun and shoot you. We wonder if Hepatitis C is what really killed Kennedy. More »
—>Last week, New York Times personal finance columnist Ron Lieber discovered that his family's financial planner was being investigated for fraud, because millions of dollars had been transferred out of clients' accounts without authorization. What's funny is Lieber found the financial planner while writing a column on how to comparison shop for one. More »
—>Kay and Lewis Brown wanted some quick cash so they could make a moderate addition to their home. They turned to CashCall, an online loan service, after seeing the ads on TV. The company lent them $5,000 — at 59% interest. Now the couple is on the hook for $20,830. More »
—>A Florida man who won't walk his dog on a leash now seems set to lose his $380,000 home, all because he refuses to pay a $1,000 'leash violation' fine to his Homeowners Association. And he's ready to kill over it. More »
—>Nina Rastogi decided to look into food tampering laws in the wake of our Domino's Pizza story last week. It turns out you can spit in food in Ohio without fear of jail time so long as you don't have a communicable disease. Ohio is clearly the place to work if you are an angry restaurant employee, and the place to avoid if you're a diner who easily angers waitstaff. More »
—>Kelly sent us these pics of a card skimmer he found yesterday on a Bank of America ATM in Atlanta. He writes, "I asked the police what to do; they said give it to the bank. I asked the bank what to do, they said give it to the police. I assume that no one has established standard procedures to handle this kind of thing yet." Well if nothing else, send us a photo! Then we can publicize it for other readers, which is how Kelly found it in the first place: "I would have not even recognized it or known to look for it had I not read the article on your website a week earlier about what to look for." Full size pics below. More »
—>The Taco Bell in South Bend, Indiana is installing "self-locking" doors after two young girls walked in on four people having sex in the bathroom. Public sex in this particular bathroom is apparently such a problem that they tried keeping the bathrooms locked — but too many customers complained about having to ask for a key. More »
—>The saga of Kristy and Michael, the two (former) Domino's employees whose on-the-job shenanigans made it to YouTube earlier this week, continues. Now there are warrants out for their arrests, and Domino's says it plans to sue them. Seriously, if you work in the food industry and are nursing some grudges, just... try to hold them in until you can find a job better suited to you. More »
From what I've seen online, if I take it to a bank, they might take it, but of course I won't be compensated. Should I turn it into the police? What should I do with it? I don't really want to just pass it along. More »
—>Here's a new tactic we haven't seen before: mortgage originator AmTrust called blogger BeThisWay and offered her $50 to voluntarily close her home equity line of credit (HELOC), possibly in response to the recent class action lawsuit against them for illegally closing HELOCs. She writes, "Well, I'd like to keep my HELOC. But I have to figure out AmTrust's next move. What will they do if not enough people voluntarily surrender their HELOCs? Are cancellations next? Am I better off taking the $50 now, or waiting, hoping they don't cancel it?" More »
—>The Florida Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against Showbiz Promotions, LLC, maker of the Caylee Anthony doll and the Michael Vick dog chew toy, claiming that the company promised to donate the profits to charity — but did not follow through. More »
—>Let me just be totally honest with you and tell you that you do not want to see these photos. We know, of course, that you are going to click over to The Smoking Gun and look at them, but you'd been warned. They are horrible. We've included the tamest photo inside. More »
A Walmart cashier from Shreveport, LA was caught copying down customer's credit card numbers and using them to buy items from the store where she worked. As you can imagine, the police caught on to this brilliant scam pretty quickly. She was arrested when credit card numbers were found in her purse. [KSLA] More »
—>Various U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, announced a multi-agency crackdown on foreclosure relief fraud today, vowing to "redouble efforts to crack down on schemes that target distressed homeowners and also to share more information and resources across agencies and with state officials," says the WSJ.More »
—>A well-respected lawyer has a simple message for corporations: stop suing disgruntled customers who start websites to air their grievances. Though William Pecau of Steptoe & Johnson thinks that online gripers are "self-righteous narcissists with time on their hands," he also realizes that "shutting down a gripe site generally is not easy, often cannot be done, and often is counterproductive." Pecau goes on to explain exactly why most online gripers are safe from over-hyped takedown notices... More »
—>440 residents of an East Harlem apartment have sued international real estate conglomerate Dawnay Day for neglecting building repairs, charging for appliances that were never purchased, and issuing fines reaching $8,000 for improperly using those imaginary appliances. New York's State's housing laws apparently don't protect tenants from bogus fines, so the group instead relied on consumer laws to file their suit. More »
—>Come on people, Dell agreed to dole out $1.5 million to customers who had problems with warranty repairs, credit financing, and rebates, but with only a week before the filing deadline, Washington's Attorney General says that only 42 people in his state have submitted claim forms. We know there are eligible Dell victims out there. Our tipline alone has nearly 1,000 Dell-related complaints. Please, fill out your claim form now and get the money your state attorney generals earned for you! More »
—>If you took Paxil between April 1, 2002 and March 4, 2005, and your pills broke in the bottle, you can take part in a new class action settlement to receive some compensation. Tier One covers 1-5 pills and will get you $50. Tier Two covers up to 15 pills and will get you between $50 and $150 depending on the details of your claim. More »
—>Ah yes, the Philadelphia Airport. You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. A baggage handler has been charged with two counts of theft after a woman noticed that $550 worth of clothes (with the price tags still on) had mysteriously wandered out of her luggage. More »
—>All the clever shoplifting tricks in the world won't save you from yourself if you decide to reveal your secrets on Dr. Phil. Last week a fraud task force raided the home of Laura and Matthew Eaton, who appeared on an episode in November to show the audience how they did it and to say they were going straight. More »
—>Police say that the owner of the Poloros Restaurant in Mineola, NY had a hidden surveillance camera installed in the ceiling tiles of the women's bathroom. The device, which was used by the owner to watch customers and female employees alike, was spotted by a customer, who notified police. More »
—>Slap chop to the face! Vince Shlomi, aka the ShamWow Guy, aka You're Gonna Love My Nuts, was "arrested last month on a felony battery charge following a violent confrontation with a prostitute in his South Beach hotel room," reports the Smoking Gun. More »
—>Well, here's a truly weird story, disorderly conduct charges have been dropped against a Texas woman who dropped an f-bomb at her local Walmart. More »
—>Verizon Wireless has settled its lawsuit against those telemarketers who were phonespamming thousands of people back in February to promote a kids' movie. Feature Films For Families has agreed to pay $25,000 to Verizon, which will be donated to the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH). More »
—>A lawsuit has been filed against Dish Network by the U.S. Justice Department (on behalf of the FTC) alleging that the company violated "Do Not Call" rules by phoning potential customers without their permission. More »
—>A.I.G. is suing the government to recover over $300 million in tax breaks that the insurance company says were improperly denied. What sort of tax breaks? The sort otherwise known as illegal Cayman Island tax shelters. More »
—>An iPod repair shop, that we ripping Apple off for 9,000+ iPod shuffles. The feds charged Nicholas Woodman with jacking iPod shuffles from Apple by guessing shuffle serial numbers from a shuffle replacement site without actually ever buying the original shuffles himself. More »
—>The State of New Jersey has filed a lawsuit against Verizon, alleging that its marketing, sales, billing and customer service practices for its FiOS television, telephone and internet services are deceptive and misleading. The lawsuit is partly in response to the now-infamous "Free LCD" disaster.More »
—>Last year's Worst Company in America winner, Countrywide Home Loans, has sued AIG for not paying their claim on losses from failed real estate loans that they had insured with the company. More »
Sprightly old people rock. This 78-year-old woman pursued and helped catch an armed robber in the parking lot of a mall on Long Island, NY. You can't hide from old ladies in a PC Richard, purse snatchers of the world. [Newsday] More »
—>No more $7 million penthouse. Today was Madoff's first full day at the Metropolitan Correction Center, where he'll be spending some quality time while awaiting sentencing. ABCNews has some insights about the facility and its amenities. More »
—>Well, it's official. Bernie Madoff has plead guilty to 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft. The maximum amount of prison time for these crimes is 150 years. More »
Missouri's Attorney General has won a $300,000 judgment against a telemarketer that violated the state's do-not-call list. It is the third-largest award so far. More »
—>A man who paid nearly $400,000 in the late 80s for two lifetime passes from American Airlines is now suing the company, claiming they illegally revoked the passes after a supposed rule violation. The passes allowed him and a companion to travel anywhere they wanted in first class for the rest of his life, but AA canceled them after claiming he made "'speculative reservations' for companions." More »
—>The news just keeps getting worse for the Girl Scouts. First some jerk started paying for cookies with fake money — now some guy in a ski mask robbed some Girl Scouts who were selling cookies outside of a grocery store in Alaska. More »
—>A 21-year-old film studies major at Yale University is really annoyed that his XBOX 360 went missing from his luggage on a US Airways flight, so he decided to sue them. For a million dollars. More »
The Caylee Anthony"tribute" dolls are back up for sale, according to the company's "tribute" website. So far, we can't find a way to actually buy them. We're loaded up with "Caylee Sunshine" bracelets and tees, however. That should creep out all the parents in Park Slope. [CayleeDoll.com] (Thanks to Craig!)More »
—>In 2006, Jennifer—the co-founder of popular parenting/consumer advocacy site Z Recommends—took her two-and-a-half-year-old to the bathroom at the local Toys R Us store. What she didn't know was that this particular store featured the awesome striking power of the Action Toilet Stall with Collapsible Mom Trap! As she closed the door, the entire partition fell over on top of her and her daughter. Jennifer managed to protect her daughter from harm, but in the two years since the event, she's developed chronic pain from the accident—and the response from Toys R Us has been "don't call us, we'll call you." More »
—>The NYC police commissioner, Ray Kelly, is super annoyed at TD Bank because he says they're just too easy to rob. In one example of this phenomenon, a robber was thwarted by three Chase branches before successfully robbing a TD Bank. And get this, 17% of this New York City's bank robberies occurred at TD Bank branches. More »
—>The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of Diana Levine in Wyeth v. Levine. Levine, a musician, had her arm amputated when an anti-nausea drug was improperly administered in her artery, and sued the manufacturer for failing to warn of the risks on the drug's label. Wyeth claimed that her case was pre-empted by federal law. More »
—>We've made it pretty clear that we don't condone Latreasa Goodman's attempt to use 911 to report a McNugget Emergency, but in all fairness to Goodman, she was being shafted by the lying, uncooperative McDonald's employee who said "all sales final" and refused to refund her money. McDonald's has released a statement where they own up to their role in escalating things in the first place, and they're sending her a free meal gift card as well as the refund she originally requested. Now she can enjoy a complimentary lunch on the day she goes to plead "no contest" to the judge for abuse of 911. More »
—>A woman in Oklahoma bought a 3G netbook from RadioShack for $100, subsidized by a two-year data plan from AT&T Mobility. That plan comes with a 5GB monthly data cap, which she exceeded, and as a result her first monthly bill was over $5,000. Now the two companies are facing a class action lawsuit that alleges they are not clearly disclosing to purchasers that overage fees could be "astronomical." More »
—>The Chicago Tribune says that Russell Cole calls his $2.75 million Deerfield, IL home "the house that Best Buy built," but now investigators are claiming that the Best Buy money was obtained through fraud. More »
—>The AP is reporting that 10 people have been indicted in a conspiracy to sell 5,600 fraudulently obtained Southwest Airlines tickets. The tickets were supposed to be for passengers who helped flight crews with seriously injured or ill passengers. More »
—>A class action lawsuit has been filed against Verizon Wireless accusing it of passing directly to customers a "metropolitan commuter transportation district" tax that the company was actually supposed to pay. Albert Levy, who filed the lawsuit, points out that Sprint has never charged the tax to customers. Verizon Wireless calls the accusation "silly," and says they're billing it correctly. Perhaps not surprisingly, the actual wording of the tax law leaves the matter up in the air. More »
An employee of Starbucks has filed a class action lawsuit against the company for failing to properly secure employee data. The employee was one of one of 97,000 notified late last year after a Starbucks laptop containing employee names, addresses and Social Security numbers was stolen. [NetworkWorld via Starbucks Gossip] More »
—>The Santa Rosa, California Press Democrat says that Korbel Champagne Cellars will ask a Sonoma County judge to force Comcast to reveal the names of anonymous Craigslist posters who criticized the company. More »
—>Don't be too surprised if you get a letter from your bank or credit union in the next few weeks telling you it's replacing your credit card. If your data was among the latest set compromised, Visa and Mastercard are already alerting financial institutions so they can cancel the account number. More »
—>Last week, a U.S. federal court judge denied class action status to the Microsoft "Vista Capable" lawsuit, on the grounds that "the plaintiffs could not demonstrate that their claims were common to the entire class of consumers who bought computers marked with the 'Windows Vista Capable' but without the 'Premium Ready' label." More »
Oh, Madoff. You sly one. The firm liquidating your operation has found no evidence that you actually bought or sold any securities for your customers in the past 13 years. More »
Here's a tip: The guy who works at Home Depot but can "get you everything for a discount" is probably not doing something legal. [Bakersfield Now] More »
—>A settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit against Girls Gone Wild for sending and charging customers for DVDs they didn't order. After ordering one DVD, defendants Mantra Films, Inc., MRA Holdings LLC and Joe Francis were alleged to enroll customers in a monthly video club plan without the member's knowledge or consent and charge their credit card without authorizations. Depending on how much proof of purchase they have, class members can get a refund for the videos, shipping costs, or a discount on future jug-jiggling videos. More info at the settlement website, ggwsettlement.com. More »
—>Swiss bank UBS, which has "admitted conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and agreed to pay $780 million to settle a sweeping federal investigation into its activities," has agreed to release the names of Americans who have been secreting away cash in UBS' fabled Swiss bank accounts. The U.S. Justice Department has been investigating about 19,000 accounts, but the New York Times says the bank may only release a couple hundred names. Update: Now the IRS has asked a judge to demand that UBS turn over the names of around 52,000 clients. UBS says it will "vigorously challenge" the new request. More »
More information about the Stanford International Bank fraud case, including, but not limited to: a bank panic in Venezuela, hugs from Nancy Pelosi, allegations of money laundering for drug cartels, and predictable vows to "fight with every breath to continue to uphold our good name and continue the legacy we have built together." Still no word on where the $8 billion went. [Forbes] More »
—>Here's something that you don't often see — a Dunkin Donuts employee got so mad at a guy who decided not to wait for his coffee (because it was taking too long) that he left the store, pulled out a folding knife, and slashed the customer's tires. All. Four. Of. Them. More »
—>Monster Cable loves to sue companies that use "Monster" in their names, even if they don't sell cables and even if they've been around as long as Monster Cable has. Jones Day is a law firm that doesn't want anyone else to use standard, everyday formatting for links in news stories about its staff, and it succeeded in forcing a small start-up to cave in to its demands. More »
—>The SEC has charged Robert Allen Stanford, a prominent Texas businessman, in connection with an $8 billion fraud in the sale of so-called certificates of deposit that promised unrealistic rates of return. Stanford guaranteed fixed-income investments by "promising improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates," according to a statement by the SEC. More »
—>The LA Times is reporting that former Fry's executive and accused embezzler, Omar Siddiqui, once gambled away $8 million in a single day. According to the IRS, Mr. Siddiqui financed his gambling by taking at least $65.6 million in kickbacks from Fry's suppliers. He's been charged with money laundering and fraud, and if convicted, he faces 140 years in prison. More »
—>Ah, the irresistable pull of bargains! A man in Florida is suing Walmart because he was bitten by a pygmy rattler while shopping in the garden center in 2008. His is the third such attack in a Walmart in Florida since 2006, and he's claiming the retailer should have taken better steps to prevent rattler bites after the first two attacks. Our favorite detail, though, is that he won't stop going to Walmart, because "their prices are too good to shop elsewhere." More »
—>The U.S. Secret Service has arrested three men in Florida on "hundreds of counts of credit card fraud" for using fake gift cards imprinted with account info stolen from Heartland Payment Systems last year. The Secret Service still thinks an Eastern European group is behind the Heartland breach, and that the Florida guys are smaller-time crooks who most likely purchased a subset of the stolen data. More »
Thieves stole all the roses—400 of them—from an Ohio florist yesterday, as well as the vases, the decorations, and the computer. [Associated Press] (Photo: tillwe) More »
Got the iPhone back now and went to the AT&T store and now activating it via iTunes. Phone seems to be working just the pictures in the camera roll were deleted along with recent calls. More »
—>Two Pennsylvania judges were sued in federal court this past week for allegedly taking $2.6 million in kickbacks from private juvenile detention facilities. In exchange, they sentenced hundreds of youths to the centers over the past 5 years. One of the judges, Mark Ciavarella, sent 1 out of 4 defendants to the centers, compared to a statewide rate of 1 in 10. More »
—>Wow, that was impressive! In less than one hour after we posted about Dino's dad's lost iPhone, Consumerist readers were able to locate his Facebook and Hi5 accounts, track down his name and home address, and even get him to respond via email—something Dino and his dad weren't able to do yesterday. Dino just wrote us and said "Michael Smith/Emerson" contacted him and promised to return the phone tomorrow. Update: the phone has been returned!More »
—>Hate renting set-top boxes from Comcast? So does one San Francisco Comcast subscriber. He's suing, claiming that the rental fees are far in excess of what the boxes would be worth on the open market. More »
—>A settlement has been proposed in a class action against Nationwide Insurance. The suit says Nationwide should pay for both the car's repair and depreciated value for policyholders hit by underinsured drivers or involved in hit-and-run accidents. For those who qualify and file, it could mean thousands. More »
—>If you're looking to start or end a vacation with having something stolen from your luggage, D/FW Airport is a good place to go. At least that's the impression you get when you look at the rising number of reported thefts over the past 5 years. More »
—>ArsTechnica reports that a judge has ordered Neovi, the company behind Qchex, to immediately stop offering their service, which allowed people to create and send checks drawn on any bank so long as they provided the account info. As you can imagine, this led to abuse by scammers who would use Qchex to create fraudulent checks. More »
—>FBI agents raided the Georgia plant suspected in the current salmonella peanut butter outbreak that has been linked to 600 illnesses and eight deaths in 43 states. The company is accused of knowingly shipping the tainted products. More »
—>Uh oh, another Best Buy employee has been caught swiping data from customers. Unlike the woman last August who went on small time shopping sprees, this woman was caught using a card reader to swipe and store info on as many as 4,000 customers at the Best Buy store located at 1880 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd in Palm Beach, Florida. More »
—>The landlords that sent a demand for unpaid rent and citing "insufficient notice to vacate" to the estate of a mother who was murdered in a Christmas kill-spree say they will not go after the rest of the rent after all. They say the request for payment was just the management company's standard procedure and they didn't know the woman was a murder-victim. More »
—>You know those annoying robocalls on your mobile phone about renewing your car warranty? The companies behind the calls use spoofing to remain hidden, but AT&T Mobility just filed suit in federal court to track down the culprits, then hopefully make them stop. This is great news, because judging from the quotes given to RCR Wireless, the FTC and FCC both don't seem too concerned about the matter. More »
This revelation is totally appalling and unacceptable, and this shocking revelation, resulting from our subpoena, also provides compelling proof that social networking sites remain ripe with sexual predators." More »
—>A Baltimore woman is suing McDonald's for negligence, after she says they served her a cup of kitchen equipment sanitizer instead of iced tea. More »
—>The ex-husband of a woman who was murdered at a Christmas party along with 8 other people has been ordered by her landlord to pay her rent. The landlord says she gave insufficient notice to vacate the premises, and broke her lease. Apparently they require 60 days notice before being shot dead by your sister's ex-husband in a Santa suit. More »
—>A court filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan made public a 162-page document listing his various clients, which include Hall of Fame Pitcher Sandy Koufax, actor Kevin Bacon, and the Wilpon family, owners of the New York Mets. More »
—>Reader Dan says he was walking home last night and got robbed at gunpoint, losing his iPhone, which he only got five days ago, in the process. He asks, "Any tips from you or readers? Can it be tracked using the onboard gps? This STINKS!" More »
—>If you've ever wondered why medicines have tamper-proof seals — there's one reason: an group of still unsolved murders over a quarter of a century old. In September of 1982, cyanide-laced Tylenol killed seven people in the Chicagoland area. Despite a nationwide recall and investigation, no one was ever charged with the crime. Now the FBI has reopened the case. More »
—>The number of people gunning for some Apple/AT&T cash keeps increasing, with three new class action lawsuits filed over the past 8 days alone. In all three suits, the primary complaint is the same: that AT&T Mobility's 3G network isn't robust enough to deliver the type of experience promised by iPhone marketing. More »
—>Remember the Walmart greeter that got attacked by a cop during a receipt check? Well, he's suing for $21 million, says Chattanooga's News Channel 9. More »
—>The news about Peanut Corp. of America's complete abandonment of food safety gets worse: now it seems that the company knew its peanut butter had salmonella, but shipped it anyway. When the product tested positive, the company shopped around for another lab to provide "acceptable" results. More »
—>Joseph Milano, the owner of Goombah's Pizza in Palm Coast, Florida—and no, we're not making up that name—was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he struck a customer in the face with a gun, then leaped over the counter and began beating up the customer and his roomate. The man had ordered a takeout calzone, and was at the counter asking for a refund because he said the calzone had been prepared incorrectly. Wait, is this a theme restaurant? Update: Yeah, it sorta is: it turns out the owner is a former hitman for the mafia.More »
—>The manufacturer of the Caylee Anthony Doll has decided to not sell it, bowing to public reaction over the plans to sell a doll "inspired by" a child homicide victim. [Cayleedoll] (Thanks to J M!)More »
—>Now you too can be a part of the Caylee Anthony saga unfolding on cable news networks! What's that? This is a grotesque commercialization of what should be a private tragedy? Don't be such a downer! "We want it to be a tribute," Showbiz Promotions prez Jaime Salcedo told the Orlando Sentinel. Heck, he's even thinking of donating $3 per purchase to some good cause or another. More »
—>Banks usually avoid having to deal with the consequences of advance fee fraud, since they make the depositor responsible for coming up with the missing money when a check turns out to be fake. But a lawyer who just got scammed is taking Citibank to court, because he says their "unconditional" guarantee that the check was legit led directly to his loss of $182,500. More »
—>Thirty-nine-year-old Shelly Koontz was arrested for failing to return a copy of the The Freedom Writer's Diary that she borrowed last April from the Jessup library. The library had tried to reach Koontz through four calls and four letters, one certified, which she refused to accept. Fed up, library officials asked to press charges, leading officers to visit Koontz's home with three simple options: return the book; pay the library $13.95 so they could buy a new copy; or, go to jail. More »
—>Apple has agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle a class action suit brought by owners of the notoriously scratchy first-generation iPod Nanos. Under the agreement, owners of the scratch magnets will be entitled to either a $25 or $15 cash refund, depending on whether or not their Nano included a carrying case. More »
Vonage has settled a class action lawsuit over its flaky fax service, but participants can only expect to see between $4-19 repayment. You have until March 2, 2009 to file a claim or an objection. [Bustos Fax Settlement] (Thanks to Klay!)More »
—>Bank of America has settled a class action lawsuit over its dirty overdraft tricks—things like approving transactions that generate overdraft fees, for example, or clearing transactions in high-to-low order to increase the number of overdrafts. If you're a former customer of BoA, Fleet, LaSalle Bank or United Trust Company, you can claim your part of the settlement fund. More »
—>A Lisbon man cut off his finger in the middle of court after a judge refused his offer to settle his 170,000 euro ($219,436) debt. "My intention was to tear up all the case papers and splatter them with blood so I could prevent the expropriation order for my land," said Orico Silva... More »
Justice has finally been served to the senior citizen who was not only ripped off on his trade-in vehicle (which is, frankly, to be expected), the dealership also got him to hand over his ATM card and just straight up stole $2000 from his bank account. More »
Please do not eat the lobster, then glue the shell back together and return it for a refund. [Times Union Albany] [Thanks to Laurie & Brian!]More »
Americans face a tough choice Tuesday morning: watch Barack Obama's historic inauguration, or storm department stores to take advantage of a first-come, first-serve cosmetics giveaway worth $175 million. More »
—>A Michigan court has struck an arbitration clause in a wrongful death case against a nursing home that allegedly allowed one of its senile residents to wander outside and freeze to death. More »
—>Joe's tribute band was booked by a man named Rodrigues Collin for a gig in San Francisco, but it turned out to be an advance fee fraud. Joe says he discovered that Collin made contact with dozens of tribute bands at the same time, so he's contacting them himself to warn them. Here's how it happened to him. More »
—>Alexandra Penney had been building up her retirement savings for over 30 years, and a decade ago she put her money in the trust of Bernard Madoff's firm to grow it. You know how that story ends, but in her ongoing series "The Bag Lady Papers," Penney writes about the emotional toll of seeing your life's savings evaporate in what seems like seconds, and how she's been coping since. More »
—>Seven state attorneys general, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU have sued to overturn the so-called "conscience" rule, which allows doctors, pharmacists, and other health care workers to refuse to perform procedures or dispense medication that conflicts with their beliefs. More »
—>The FBI is investigating an incident in which a mysterious chemical was released in a Wisconsin Walmart sending 47 people to the hospital — and is not investigating a Walmart in the same county that had to be evacuated the next day due to an odoriferous sewer problem. What an odd coincidence. More »
—>The Center for Science in the Public Interest has announced a class-action lawsuit against Coca-Cola over its VitaminWater line, on the grounds that it makes deceptive claims about the nutritional benefits of its drinks. More »
—>These two guys somehow managed to make off with an $8,000 purchase at Hattiesburg Cycles in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, by telling the cashier that they were expecting their (fake) credit card to be denied, and to call a phone number to validate it. The catch: they gave the cashier the phone number to call. More »
—>The Federal Trade Commission has charged Wintergreen Systems, an Indiana-based electronics reseller owned by John Levy, with failing to honor mail-in-rebate offers for thousands of customers. The FTC's conditions for settling the lawsuit require Levy and his company to "be barred from any involvement in the development, marketing, fulfillment, or funding of any rebate program." There's also a $330,000 judgment, which the company will not have to pay (more on that below). Both Wintergreen Systems and its parent company, Market Development Specialists (MDS), resold electronics through companies like Office Depot, PC Connection, Buy.com, PCMall, and Woot.com. More »
—>According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel two scammers convinced an elderly man that they'd found a bag of money in a Home Depot parking lot — and that they'd split it with him if he gave them a "good faith cash payment." More »
—>A New York state Supreme Court justice threw out Amazon's sales tax lawsuit earlier today, opening the way for New York to begin collecting sales taxes on Amazon purchases. More »
—>California dentist Yvonne Wong has sued two parents who complained in a review on Yelp that their child received mercury fillings and left Wong's office feeling light-headed from laughing gas. Wong claims "it never occurred to her to contact the boy's parents" before filing her libel suit, although the dentist clearly doesn't have the best counsel. Her lawyer also tried to sue Yelp, apparently unaware that web sites publishing third-party content are protected under federal law. More »
—>A $3.35 million settlement has been reached with 34 states in the suit against Dell alleging deceptive practices like misleading consumers about financing terms, rebates, and warranties. The states are... More »
—>A proposed settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit against Sprint over early termination fees (ETF). It seems to basically apply to anyone who has had a time-based contact with Sprint that had an etf clause it i.e. most Sprint wireless customers. You get $90 if you were charged an ETF and can provide proof, and $35 if you didn't cancel a contract for fear of getting charged an ETF. You can file at www.sprintetfsettlement.com, and get a more in-depth and explainer of the terms over at Top Class Actions. More »
—>Monster Cable has decided to stop pursuing a trademark infringement against Monster Mini Golf. Judging by the post-settlement letter Noel sent the MiniGolf people, it seems that after both parties kicked their lawyers out of the room and talk directly, they were able to come to an amicable solution. Monster Cable will stop opposing the MiniGolf trademark and will cover MonsterMini Golf's attorney fees. Noel's letter, inside: More »
In 2006, Raed Jaer, an Iraqi-born U.S. resident, was forced by TSA officials and JetBlue to cover his t-shirt—it read, "We Will Not Be Silent" in both Arabic and English—before he could board a flight. The airline and the two TSA officials (TSA was not named in the suit) settled out of court last week for $240,000, although JetBlue still denies they did anything wrong, and the TSA says they don't "condone profiling in any way shape or form." Here's what happened back in August 2006:
After passing through security... [TSA and JetBlue officials] came up to him and asked him to change his shirt as, "people are feeling offended." Jaer replied, "Why do you want me to take off my t-shirt? Isn't it my constitutional right to express myself in this way?" Inspector Harris said, "people here in the US don't understand these things about constitutional rights." He added, "You can't wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads "I am a robber" and going to a bank."
When the settlement was announced, JetBlue took pains to make it clear that they're only settling to avoid a protracted legal battle, and that they don't think they did anything wrong, according to this email to the Washington Post:
"JetBlue continues to deny, outright, every critical aspect of Mr. Jarrar's version of events," airline spokeswoman Alison Croyle said in an e-mailed statement. Croyle added, "JetBlue believes diversity adds great strength to our company; diversity among our crewmembers as well as our customers."
Diversity, and silence! And obedience! Lower your heads, cattle passengers of all colors, and submit to the skittish herd! Anyway, we're happy for Jaer. We're also trying to come up with a good pseudo-terroristy tshirt design so we can try this ourselves. "JetBlue, TSA Workers Settle in T-Shirt Case" [Washington Post] RELATED
Monster Cable has agreed to drop a heavily mocked (by us, anyway) trademark lawsuit against Monster Mini Golf after a private phone call between the founders of the two companies. Great, now you won't be able to tell if you're playing mini golf or being gouged by a cable manufacturer. [News10.net] (Thanks to Trever!)More »
—>A Connecticut mall has to pay $259,000 in settlement fees to consumers who bought gift cards that had monthly inactivity fees. More »
Pepsi is suing an Atlanta distributor for distributing Mexican Pepsi, sweetened with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, in the U.S. More »
—>AirTran removed a Muslim family and their friend from their flight, had them questioned by the FBI, and then refused to re-seat or rebook them after they were cleared by the FBI. More »
—>Another electronics store was taken for millions by an invoice-fixing scheme: a buyer for Best Buy and a vendor have been charged with overcharging Best Buy $31 million over four years. More »
—>Here's a suggestion for all of you who bank at Bank of America. If the bank makes you angry, do not try to get revenge by calling 911 and reporting a fake robbery in progress. More »
—>Read the dirty details of the 26 page complaint against the Fry's VP caught embezzling $65 million here. Post your favorite tidbits in the comments. More »
Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme was one of the biggest, but he's got a lot of company. Here's a list of the "9 Most Brazen Ponzi Schemes in History," from Charles Ponzi (yep, that's why we call it that) to Social Security. [Neatorama] More »
—>A Fry's VP was arrested last Friday for embezzling $65 million from the electronics retailer to fuel a gargantuan gambling lifestyle and feed his appetite for excess. More »
—>Remember Judge Roy "Fancy Pants" Pearson's $54 million dollar lawsuit against a dry cleaner that lost his pants? Well, he's lost his appeal, says CNN. More »
—>The Chicago Tribune says that a couple are suing United Airlines, claiming that the airline "negligently over served" the man — causing him to become drunk and to beat his wife. More »
—>If you bought individual Enron stock, you might get a piece of a new settlement against all the companies who supported Enron along the way and knew, or should have known, what was up. [TopClassActions] More »
—>Monster Cable has decided to sue Monster MiniGolf for trademark infringement. Monster MiniGolf is a family startup by Patrick & Christina Vitagliano glow-in-the-dark monster-themed minigolf franchise with 23 locations. Monster Cable, which has an illustrious history of suing anything and everything with Monster in its name, makes the expensive cables that Best Buy is always trying to upsell you on that are no better than coat hangers. More »
—>Who is to blame when shoppers attack en masse? The store? The individual shoppers? The police? Two shoppers who say they were injured during the deadly Walmart Black Friday stampede in New York are suing the local police — claiming that they didn't do enough to calm down the crowd minutes before the mob surged through the doors killing one employee. More »
—>Consumerist empowers consumers to take on bad companies, but sometimes even the negative PR that Consumerist can bring to bear is not enough to persuade companies to behave. When that happens, you might have to sue in order to get what you want. Here is a brief guide to your options when you decide you need to escalate your complaint to the courts. More »
The floors of a Palm Desert, CA Toys R' Us ran red on Black Friday after two gunslinging representatives from "two groups of individuals that have a dispute with each other" opened fire. [AP] (Thanks to Tim!)More »
—>The New York Times is reporting that a temporary employee of a suburban New York Walmart was trampled to death when a throng of shoppers tore down the front doors of the store and surged inside. More »
—>Chris Norberg left a negative review on Yelp after he got into a billing dispute with chiropractor Steven Biegel. Instead of quietly fuming like most people who get bad reviews on Yelp do, Biegel sued Norberg for defamation. Can you really sue someone for a negative online review? More »
—>Michael Vick, the allegedly herpetic former NFL quarterback and dog lover, has filed paperwork detailing the decent into financial ruin that lead to his bankruptcy filing in July of this year. Vick blew through $17.7 million dollars in two years preceding his Chapter 11 petition. If that sounds like a lot of money in a short amount of time, consider the fact that Vick has been imprisoned since November 2007. For those of you looking for some insight into Vick's attitude towards money, the Smoking Gun points out that one of his check memos reads, "chump change." More »
—>Imagine going to the doctor for a severe migraine and ending up with your right arm amputated. That's what happened to Diana Levine when her doctor injected her with Phenergan, it seeped out of the vein into an artery, and gave her gangrene. More »
—>An IKEA employee who worked in a Baltimore-area call center has plead guilty to stealing almost $400,000 in less than a year. His motivation? "Pure greed," according to his confession. More »
Upon logging into his Gold Membership profile in order to view the classmate contacts Plaintiff discovered that in fact, no former classmate of his had tried to contact him or view his profile," the complaint reads. "Of those www.classmates.com users who were characterized ... as members who viewed Plaintiff's profile, none were former classmates of Plaintiff or persons familiar with or known to Plaintiff for that matter. More »
—>Discover Magazine has an interesting blog post about some consumers who were complaining that Victoria's Secret bras were giving them painful rashes. When their lawyers bought similar bras and had them tested — they were found to contain formaldehyde. More »
—>The Pennsylvania woman who makes a hobby out of taking retailers to court over pricing errors has struck again. This time Walmart was ordered to pay Mary Bach $100 for repeatedly failing to correct a $2 error. More »
The attorney who won a verdict against Sprint in California has filed a $1.2 billion class action lawsuit, claiming that early termination fees are not legal. [Information Week] More »
—>If the recent economic meltdown has a bright spot, it is the possibility that smart regulation may return. There will always be those who will cheat if they can, putting both consumers and the market at risk. It cannot function properly without regulation to prevent cheating and ensure consumers are getting a fair deal. But without a private right of action and attorney fees, consumer protection regulations are nearly worthless. A "private right of action" means... More »
—>If you've been screwed by arbitration, our consumer and public interest friends in DC would like to hear your story for something special they're cooking up. Arbitration agreements are clauses inside many contracts between companies and yourself that, in the event of a dispute, prohibit you from suing the company in a court of law. Instead, you have to take your case to a special arbitration firm. Arbitration bills itself as a speedy and fair way to resolve legal disputes, but it's come under heavy fire recently for being heavily weighted in favor of companies. If you've gotten the short end of the stick, send your story to arbitration.stories@gmail.com. More »
—>The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says that a man was jailed for two days after letting his girlfriend eat from his plate — and then refusing to pay for two $7 buffet meals. More »
—>A jury awarded Rita Cantrell $100,000 in actual damage and hit Target with $3 million in punitive damages after a Target employee sent a group email falsely accusing her of passing counterfeit bills. Rita was trying to buy stuff with a 1974 $100 bill which the store employees didn't recognize and thought was a fake. A loss-prevention employee then sent around a group email containing her picture and the false allegation to 31 different local, state and federal law enforcement offices, malls, department stores, home-improvement stores and grocery stores. The email result in the Secret Service interrogating Rita at her work place, but they were able to check out the bill and determine it was genuine. "Every aspect of Ritas life was harmed by Target," said Cantrell's attorney. More »
—>Johnson & Johnson has paid out over $68.7 million in private settlements in Ortho Evra birth-control related claims. The Public Citizens Health Research Group is petitioning the FDA to take it off the market. The most common complaints among users of the contraceptive patch that adheres to the skin are blood clots in the legs, blood clots in the lungs, and hearts attacks/strokes. But hey, at least you don't have a baby. [Bloomberg] More »
—>Christopher Soghoian over at Cnet is reporting that Turkish police may have used violence to get the encryption keys of one of primary ringleaders in the TJ Maxx credit card theft investigation. The suspect, Maksym Yastremskiy, is apparently a "major figure in the international sale of stolen credit card information." More »
—>Congratulations! Your dog is rich! Oh wait, no. It's a scam. Meet Bruce Gadansky of the Louisville BBB. He got an email from some internet scammers and decided to reply — as his dog. The email was from a "company" looking for help cashing a check. More »
As part of their inquiry, FTC staff made undercover purchases from the sites. No one asked the clandestine buyers to provide verification of a prescription and the shipped drugs did not include doctors' instructions or dosage information, officials said. More »
—>You know how sometimes in football both teams will screw up on the same play and the penalties will offset? We've just found the fraud version of that situation. Three men brought a laptop computer box to Walmart and said that they'd been sold an empty box. Walmart thought they were being scammed, so they called the police. That's when all hell broke loose. More »
—>Meet Pythias Brown. Until recently, he was a TSA screener at Newark airport, and if you're missing any pricey electronics, you might have Mr. Brown to thank for it. He's accused of stealing more than $200,000 worth of electronics, including a $47,000 camera from HBO. Oddly, it was CNN that helped bust the "one man crimewave" when an employee noticed some of their equipment being sold on eBay. More »
—>The national wireless carriers have responded to the Senate's request for information on why its text-messaging fees have doubled over the past three years. Their collective response: they haven't gotten more expensive, they've gotten cheaper—and your public suspicion of our business practices has led to lots of class action lawsuits! More »
—>The global economy is crashing, credit markets are playing ice age, and you consumers have a simple choice: buy things now or prepare to be stabbed next year. More »
—>Awhile back we posted about some testing done by a group of local news affiliates that showed that the actual amount of fat (and calories) in certain "healthy" menu items from a variety of restaurants was different than what was listed on the menu. More »
—>Wow, those iPhones really are amazing. Chris' iPhone can make a call from Nicaragua the same time it's incurring a data roaming charge in Mexico—all without leaving Chris' side in the U.S. Some skeptics will probably just say there's a problem with AT&T's records, or the phone's SIM card was cloned or something, but AT&T believes. That's why they want Chris to pay that bill each month it keeps happening. More »
—>"Pre-emption" is a legal doctrine that says the federal government can claim all regulatory power over an area or subject, barring states from acting on their own. The drug maker Wyeth has brought a case before the Supreme Court arguing that a woman in Vermont, who lost her arm due to a drug complication that Wyeth knew about but did not publicize, cannot sue them in state court because of pre-emption. Wyeth says that only the FDA has the power to regulate it—and since the FDA approved Wyeth's drug label, it's the FDA's responsibility. We think Wyeth is pretending to care about federal-versus-state power in an attempt to weasel out of any responsibility. More »
—>We've known how "free" ringtones and other "free" cellphone content comeons are often lures to get you signed up on a hidden monthly subscription, and now there's a class action lawsuit settlement to punish MobileMessenger, one of their purveyors. The settlement covers customers from every cellphone provider who bought content from January 1, 2005 to August 13, 2008. If you paid for your kids cellphone plan during that time, chances are they ordered some. You can check your bills for any the "short codes" (listed inside) or call 1-800-416-6129. The deadline for filing a claim is January 30, 2009. More information about Gray v. Mobile Messenger at cellphonedownloads.class-action-admin.com. More »
—>If you or your teen racked up surprise monthly fees from Mobile Messenger after texting a random code to a strange number because the tv told you to, then you may be eligible for a refund, if not triple damages. More »
—>The BBB has issued a warning about a distressing telephone scam that's increasing in popularity. The target? Grandparents. Scammers based in Canada are thought to be randomly dialing US phone numbers until they reach someone who sounds like a senior citizen. They then pose as a grandchild who has been in a car accident and needs emergency money. More »
THE QUOTE: GameStop takes this situation quite seriously, said Rory Rhoads, GameStops Regional Vice President of Stores. We are pleased to partner with the ALERT Unit and have taken very deliberate steps to improve our operations. Specifically, we have suspended our cash-for-trade transactions in Shelby County and DeSoto County, Mississippi until February 2009. More »
—>We're trying to figure out who this inflatable crime scene is meant for. With its puffy cuteness, built in lights, and "castle" style walls, it looks like it would be a perfect entrance to a backyard Halloween party for kids. But with its "crime scene noises" and someone-is-being-murdered vibe, it seems more appropriate at a celebration for short police academy graduates. Either way, it can be yours for $125 and a relinquishing of any sense of good taste. [Update: this post is meant humorously—I belly-laughed when I first saw the product.] More »
—>JetBlue really doesn't know when to leave well enough alone! Remember Marilyn Parver, the grandmother who was arrested for videotaping a fight between two other passengers, and then refusing to delete it? Well, it seems that after the whole thing had blown over — JetBlue had to go and send the woman a nasty email in which they accused her of being argumentative, condescending and belligerent and refusing to obey the instructions of crewmembers. Dumb! Now Parver has released the tape in question and we can't see anything wrong with what she did. The fight is one of those basic "I've been on a plane for a really long time with your out-of-control child and I'm having a nervous breakdown" altercations. Nothing cookies and hugs wouldn't fix! More »
—>A federal judge ruled last week that the Department of Justice has until March to establish a used car database as directed by Congress 16 years ago. The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System will warn potential buyers if a used car was stolen or totaled, and will instantly verify the car's title and mileage. Here's how it will work... More »
—>What part of "circumcision" was unclear? That's basically what a Kentucky man and his wife are asking of two doctors who cut off the man's penis while he was under the knife. The doctors say they discovered cancer and made an emergency decision. The man says, dude, wtf, you cut off my penis. It doesn't grow back, and it was kind of important to me. More »
Under the terms of a preliminary settlement agreement, [Timberland and e-commerce company GSI] will pay $7 million into a cash fund to reimburse those who received the messages, according to KamberEdelson LLC, one of the law firms that helped bring the suit. More »
—>If you want to know about the latest class action settlements as soon as they're available, check out topclassactions.com. There's an infrequently emailed newsletter to keep you posted as the settlements become available for joining, or just bookmark their open settlement page. Once you get over some of the hyperbolic language and unnecessary all-caps, the site is pretty useful because if you've ever tried Googling for class actions, there's tons of crap and scam sites, and it's nice to have a site with all the information under decent organization. More »
—>September 24, tomorrow, is the last day to register for the class action against TransUnion for selling consumer's private data to businesses without permission. If you held a credit card between January 1, 1987 to May 28, 2008, you're eligible to receive benefits. You can choose from one of three options: More »
—>Sorry Chicagoans, your beloved Vienna "100% All Beef" hot dogs are actually encased in sheep and pigs, according to a recently settled class action suit. Under the settlement, all class members—anyone in the U.S. who bought a Vienna hot dog at a hot dog stand in the past five years—are entitled to $3 per consumed hog dog. To submit a claim, visit caclawyers.com/viennasettlement.html and follow the procedures listed there. More »
—>Yesterday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that the police were looking for two men who were posing as Comcast employees as a ruse to steal social security numbers. The men were driving an unmarked car, wandering around a neighborhood knocking on doors and telling residents they needed to fix some wiring issues. One resident refused, claiming that she didn't have an appointment. She then saw the employees start knocking on other doors and, finding it unlikely that her entire neighborhood could have "wiring issues," called the police. More »
—>Here's a mystery story to distract you from the U.S. Banking Apocalypse. UltimateBet.com, "one of the top 10 poker sites," has admitted that employees manipulated the software to cheat from at least January 2005 to January 2008, when some players started noticing an unusually high rate of wins for a certain user name. An Australian player mapped that user's wins against accounts that had played a similar number of hands, and realized that "NioNio's" wins were "less likely than 'winning a one-in-a-million lottery on four consecutive days.'" But NioNio is just one part of the mystery. More »
—>Verizon, which has no problem helping the government spy on its customers, suddenly turned stupid in June when a police department asked them for help finding the body of a woman who had been abducted on camera. Despite pleas from the woman's parents, the police, and the FBI, it was four days before a technician was sent out to the appropriate cell tower. When that technician gave the police the location info, they found Kelsey Smith's body within 45 minutes. Verizon won't respond to requests for an explanation of why they couldn't help sooner. More »
—>"Lisa" writes, "I recently found out that I was a victim of identity theft." What shocked her, and us as well, is that after Capital One notified her that they'd approved the card with another address, they followed up by sending their fraud claim to the criminal's address instead of Lisa's. More »
—>Wanna get in on the Verizon Early Termination Fee class action settlement? I did and went to verizonETFsettlement.com just like the postcard told me. Basically, if you were a Verizon Wireless customer from July 23, 1999 to August 10, 2008, and you were either charged an ETF, whether you paid it or not, you could be eligible for a piece of a $21 million pie (after the attorneys get their fees first), just file a claim form by October 14. In typical fashion, I tried filing a claim but the site keeps timing out. Something to bookmark and check in on later and hope they fixed it. Even when you think you're giving Verizon its comeuppance, somehow you get screwed over. UPDATE: The website seems to be fixed now. By the way, at the end you will have to print out and mail in forms. They want you to attach documentation of your ETF. If you don't have documentation, you can still make a claim but you will get a lesser amount. More »
Just a reminder: you can get free credit reporting services for at least six months by participating in a class action settlement against TransUnion. Carey posted details about it back in June; the deadline to participate is September 24th. (Thanks to Michael!)More »
—>The next time you're disputing a 900 number call to a sex hotline and the CSR tells you nobody else could have made that call, remind them of this story. Over the past 10 months, a Verizon technician made 5,000 calls to sex chat hotlines, totaling 45,000 minutes of dirty talk at a cost of $220,000. He placed the calls from over 950 tapped residential and commercial accounts throughout Bergen county in New Jersey. He has since resigned, and been charged with theft by deception and theft of services. More »
—>Roy "Fancypants" Pearson, the ex-judge who sued a dry-cleaner for $54 million over a misplaced pair of pants, that the cleaner even offered to replace, is continuing to press his case. He lost his original suit, he lost his job, now a court has agreed to hear his appeal. This man gets the award for worst...consumer...ever. Video inside. More »
"There's a fungus among us," is a humorous phrase. "There's a fungus among us, and it's in my eye," on the other hand, is a lawsuit. 14 more consumers filed lawsuits against Advanced Medical Optics over their recalled Complete MoisturePlus contact lens solution. The fluid was recalled because the CDC linked it to cases of Acanthamoeba infection, which can cause Keratitis, which can leaves your eye red, inflamed, in pain, and possibly lead to impairment or loss of vision. [Press Release] More »
—>It's one thing if American Airlines loses your baggage, but what about your wife's body? What do you do then? One Brooklyn man was faced with this grim dilemma when he arranged to have his wife's body flown to their home in Ecuador after she passed away from pelvic cancer. American Airlines lost the body, and it went unrefrigerated for 4 days, according to the New York Post.More »
—>Meet Mitchell Berns. Delta slapped him with a bogus weather cancellation and, rather than sit down and take it, he booked himself and his family on another flight — then sued Delta in small claims court and won a default judgment. Berns is a lawyer, but he didn't do anything that you couldn't do. More »
—>When John signed up for a Discover card a few months ago, he noticed an interesting item in the fine print—he could opt out of binding arbitration if he sent in a written request that contained a few lines of necessary info and his signature. John followed the instructions, but Discover rejected it. Since then they've rejected his request a second time, failed to call him back when promised, and transferred him to CSRs who don't know what the word means. The latest news: now that 30 days have passed, he's no longer eligible to opt out. John's thinking about canceling the card. More »
—>We just love the word unconscionable. You know who doesn't love it? AT&T. Their mandatory binding arbitration clause was ruled unconscionable by the state Supreme Court of Washington, after AT&T tried to prevent a consumer who believed he was being systematically overcharged from filing a class action lawsuit. More »
—>Reader Anthony was robbed at knifepoint by a jerk with a 10" blade, but his real complaint is that he feels that AT&T is robbing him again. After he filed a police report and told AT&T that his new iPhone had been stolen, they told him that since he already bought an iPhone he no longer qualified for the subsidized price of $199. More »
—>In yesterday's post on rude telemarketers and the people who hang up on them, reader/advice giver Amy Alkon said she just successfully sued a telemarketer in Santa Monica Small Claims Court—and won! If you're one of those unlucky people who can't get the calls to stop, here's how she did it. More »
—>Consumer Reports says that despite the fact that front-loading washers are more efficient than traditional top-loading washers, they do have one major drawback. Mold. And the problem is severe enough that there have been several class action lawsuits filed against LG, Whirlpool, and Sears, whose Kenmore front-loaders are made by Whirlpool. More »
—>Steve Warshak, founder of the company responsible for "Enzyte," has been sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $93,000, says the AP. U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel also ordered the company, along with other defendants, to forfeit more than $500 million that it bilked from consumers. More »
—>It's always fun when you spot people you know in the paper. Like when one reader saw an article about his former Best Buy manager, charged with seventeen counts of third-degree identity thief. Mariusz Paliwoda of Conneticut was arrested recently for stealing over 100 pieces of mail from rural folks', then using the information to create credit card accounts. Only the cream of the crop, or former Domino's managers, make it to the top of Best Buy!
—>The LA Times says that FBI agents told reporters that low interest rates and "soaring home values, [were] starting to attract shady operators and billions in losses were possible." According to the report, Chris Swecker, the FBI official in charge of criminal investigations, told reporters that the FBI thought it was going to prevent a crisis similar to the S&L debacle. More »
—>Don't blog about how a shady production company tried to rip you off for $25,000 or they'll sue you for $20 million. Vision Media Television is one of several different alleged ripoff artists who frequently target non-profit and socially-aware groups, promising a big TV special aired on PBS and/or other major networks showcasing the group. The show is supposedly anchored by ex-20/20 anchor Hugh Downs and will reach millions upon millions of people. The catch? The organization has to pay for the production costs up-front, which run into the tens of thousands of dollars...and the show never goes on TV. More »
—>Who isn't suing Countrywide lately? Phuong Cat Le from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says that a group of homeowners are now suing Countrywide, alleging that the lender steered them toward high-risk loans without disclosing the inherent risks. More »
—>A Customer Associate for a Best Buy in Las Cruces, New Mexico, was indicted on Thursday for credit card fraudthree counts of making fraudulent purchases over $2500, three counts of making fraudulent purchases over $500, over 20 counts of falsely signing credit card slips, and 1 count of disposing of stolen property. More »
—>ABCNews says that the West Virginia Attorney General is warning people about fake debt collectors who will call you repeatedly at home and at work, threatening you with arrest for not paying a debt... that doesn't even exist.More »
—>Earlier this week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an arbitration decision in a dispute between Coffee Beanery and a franchisee. The court found that the arbitrator, hired by the American Arbitration Association, "showed a manifest disregard of the law" by siding with Coffee Beanery. More »
—>A Chicago man is suing Shaw's Crab House after passing a 9-foot tapeworm he contends came from consuming undercooked fish. Anthony Franz claims he became violently ill after eating the salmon salad at Shaw's, and is suing the restaurant and its parent company, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, for $100,000. More »
—>Bisphenol A, or BPA, is the chemical used in various plastic bottles and can linings that Canada recently banned, consumers in Arkansas, California, and Ohio have filed lawsuits over, and Playtex and Nalgene have stopped using. The fear is that it's toxic—studies on animals in Canada have shown that it's damaging, and some tests in the U.S. suggest it's harmful to humans as well. Critics of the anti-BPA movement point out that the human studies rely on super high dosages that never occur in real life, and that making safety decisions based on the general public's fears isn't exactly scientific. More »
—>Matthew Meeds of Fairway, Kansas, doesn't want to pay Time Warner Cable a monthly rental fee for his cable box—he'd rather own one outright. He's filed suit against the cable provider and its parent company, Time Warner, Inc., accusing them of establishing an illegal tying arrangement by making the box rental a condition of the subscription agreement. He's seeking class-action status for all TWC premium customers in Kansas. More »
—>There's some backlash brewing against Etsy.com for a fashion article about recreating "Bonnie Parker's look" in which they describe Bonnie & Clyde as, "rather infamous characters in U.S. history, and for good reason: honestly, what's sexier than a nefarious duo driving cross country on a crime spree of such massive and public proportion?" The author of the article is being taken to task in the comments and the Etsy Bitch blog has picked up the story as well. More »
—>Would-be coffee spillers take note: If you're ever suing and get offered a settlement, take the deal. A new study shows that plaintiffs who turn down settlements and go to trial end up getting less than if they had settled. More »
—>If something goes wrong with the projection while you're watching Iron Man, (or any other movie, actually) and the ticket agent will not give you a refund, do not grab the monitor and throw it through a glass door. More »
—>You're entitled to a small refund if you bought tickets for a long haul flight on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic between August 11, 2004 and March 23, 2006. The amount is $7-$34 per flight taken. This is the settlement in a class action lawsuit contending the two airlines colluded to fix the price of fuel surcharges. More info at airpassengerrefund.com. [via RickSeaney] More »
—>WaMu, despite all their big talk about helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, is apparently too overwhelmed with a tsunami of defaulted loans to call their customers back, let alone help them stay in their homes. Meet Lori and Mark Pestana. They have a $275,000 fixed rate mortgage with WaMu as their servicer. In August 2007, the Pestanas could not make a payment on their loan. They considered dipping into their retirement savings, but WaMu's website offered an alternative: More »
—>The FBI has announced that a former Countrywide employee and his accomplice were arrested on charges related to "illegal access of computers containing personal information," and "illegal sale of the data." A criminal complaint filed last Friday alleges that one of the men, Rene L. Rebollo Jr., a senior financial analyst for Countrywide Home Loan's subprime mortgage division (who was let go in July), had been harvesting data from Countrywide's computers for the past two years — downloading and storing the information on personal flash drives. More »
—>The Orwellian Department of Homeland Security claims that it can indefinitely confiscate laptops and iPods from law abiding citizens without any provocation or justification. The Department "clarified" their policies after several business travelers started asking the press why Homeland Security was fiddling with their laptops and PDAs for months on end. More »
—> A California Superior Court judge has ruled that cellphone early termination fees are ILLEGAL and that Sprint must pay $18.2 M as part of a class action lawsuit. Of course, the decision could be appealed, but in the meantime.... (drum roll, please) the judge ordered Sprint to stop trying to collect the fees from customers in California who were refusing to pay them! More »
—>Yesterday, we told you about a outsourced door-to-door salesman who was soliciting for Verizon when he was caught masturbating while watching a woman work in her garden. He's been charged with two counts of "lewdness, resisting arrest and criminal trespassing," and now Verizon tells us that they've suspended all door-to-door marketing in Delaware until they're done investigating the incident. More »
—>Mark didn't like how a Papa John's pizza delivery guy was acting, so he paid the delivery charge but marked through the tip line on his receipt. Two days later, he discovered an extra $6.42 had been tacked on. When Mark called Papa John's to report the theft, he spoke to someone who obviously hasn't gotten our memo that "taking it seriously" is about as reassuring as "your call is very important to us." More »
—>We're not big fans of door-to-door marketing, and today we bring you another example of why we feel this way. According to the News-Journal, an employee of a marketing firm contracted by Verizon has been arrested and charged with two counts of "lewdness, resisting arrest and criminal trespassing," after a man in a Verizon t-shirt was spotted "masturbating while watching a woman work in her garden." More »
—>A California judge has issued a tentative ruling against Sprint regarding early termination fees. Although Sprint has two weeks to respond before the judge issues a final ruling, if the ruling stands then Sprint will have to pay $73 million in refunds to former customers. That Verizon settlement for $21 million earlier this month must be looking pretty sweet to Sprint's investors right about now. More »
—>Not only is it illegal to shoot your lawnmower with a sawed-off shotgun, it's illegal to own a sawed-off shotgun. Apparently, no one bothered to share this information with Keith Walendowski of Milwaukee, WI. More »
—>According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, attorneys filed a dismissal motion on behalf of Denco, an ethanol producer in Morris, Minn. that had been selling a product called "Monster Deer Block" since 2005. What were they trying to dismiss? A trademark lawsuit from Monster Cable, of course. More »
—>American Airlines has dropped its trademark infringement lawsuit against the all-powerful Google Inc. The lawsuit stemmed from the fact that the search engine allows search terms like "AAdvantage," the trademark name of its frequent flier program, to be linked competitors' sites that have no connection with American. If there was ever any doubt that Google sells out "proper" net searches to the highest bidder, let that doubt be forever melted away. More »
Email surfaced in a class action lawsuit against NVIDIA and ATI suggesting that the graphics card makers have engaged in illegal price-fixing for the past half-decade. [techPowerUp!] More »
—>21-year-old DirecTV installer Arthur Christian faces felony grand larceny charges after allegedly stealing $5,400 from a locked safe while working unsupervised in a customer's basement. More »
—>The FDA slapped a black box warning on a group of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones for their link to tendonitis and tendon rupture in patients. Drugs in this group include Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Oscient, Factive, Proquin XR, Floxin Noroxin. Ruptures associated with the drug have included the achilles tendon, thumbs, shoulder, bicep and hand. Public interest group Public Citizen has been petitioned the FDA in 1996, 2005 and 2006 to add greater warnings to the drug. Only after Public Citizen sued the FDA for not responding to the petitions were the warnings added. One patient described what happened after he was hospitalized for an infection and treated with Cipro... More »
—>The website DebtConsolidationCare receives letters like this all the time, "O Heavens! I found that my master card has been stolen from my purse when I had gone to a party. Someone took out $500 from it. I found it out when I saw the billing statement. What shall I do now? What shall I do to get out of this whole thing? I am planning to close the account. What else should I do?" According to their statistics, every minute, 20 people are affected by identity theft which adds up to about 10 million a year. To help people like these, DebtConsolidationCare has put together a list of 5 steps you should take if your identity is stolen. Check out the list, inside... More »
—>Following up on yesterday's story about a disgruntled computer technician who turned over the bank records from the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein, ABC News says that UBS Bank may have helped set up the secret accounts and been responsible for hiding as much as $20 billion dollars of U.S. money.More »
—>Remember the French lawsuit that Louis Vuitton won against eBay earlier this month? A French court said eBay was responsible for policing their auctions for counterfeit items—at least that was the official language. It also, unfortunately, helped solidify LVMH's tight control over who sells its luxury merchandise. This week a judge in New York ruled the opposite direction against Tiffany & Co., telling them, "Tiffany must ultimately bear the burden of protecting its trademark." It's a win for eBay. Is it for the consumer? More »
—>Like all those people who joined the class-action suit, Consumerist reader Russ has a moldy Select Comfort mattress. Unlike many of them, he was able to use it to get a new bed, and the old bed taken away, for free. Here's how he negotiated with customer service: More »
If you worked at Fry's Electronics between March '02 and July '07, you can participate in a newly announced class action settlement. You should be contacted directly, but you can also download the settlement and claim form from here. [FrysForum] (Thank to Luis!)More »
—>If you bought, or your pet ate, pet food recalled after March 17, 2007, keep tabs on this $24 million settlement. This would be the pet food purposely cut with melamine, a (poisonous) byproduct of coal production, because it made the food look it was higher in protein and was cheaper than actual protein. The case is called Re: Pet Food Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 1850, Civil Action No. 07-2867 (NLH). The final hearing is on October 14, 2008. The final date for submitting a claim form will be November 24, 2008. To see if you're eligible, check the list of recalled products affected by the settlement (PDF). Food by Nestle-Purina, Royal Canin, Sierra Pet products, Chenangono Valley Pet Food, CJ Foods, Diamond Pet Food, Hill's, American Nutrition, and Del Monte are on the list. Claim forms and more can be found at PetFoodSettlement.com. More »
—>Verizon has agreed to pay $21 million in a California class action lawsuit brought over early termination fees. The plaintiffs alleged that the fees violated California state laws. Next case: Sprint, which Californians are suing for the same reason. More »
—>Three former candy testers have filed lawsuits against Cadbury for feeding them some sort of experimental sweetener and other products that affected their ability to taste. They say they would like to know what the substances were. More »
—>Stein Mart was caught "printing expiration dates and/or more than the last five digits of credit cards on receipts," and was subsequently hit with a class action lawsuit for exposing sensitive customer data. Now they've settled by agreeing to run coupons in local newspapers. It gets better: instead of a flat 20% off coupon, the store is requiring minimum-purchase amounts that reduce the savings if your purchase falls between the arbitrarily set thresholds.
$10 off a purchase of $50 or more
$20 off a purchase of $100 or more
$30 off a purchase of $150 or more
We need a new federal law that says class action lawyers have to be compensated in the same manner as their clients. Give those hard working guys and gals some $30-off coupons, please! More »
—>Would you buy that "Million dollar" lottery ticket if you knew that someone had already claimed the million bucks? No? Well, if you buy lottery tickets in Virginia you may have been doing just that, according to a new lawsuit. More »
—>Whether you realize it or not, as a tourist, you are very conspicuous to would-be criminals who would like to take advantage of you. To help keep you safe, CNN and BudgetTravel have compiled a list of some common crimes at some of the most popular travel destinations. The list, inside... More »
—>Make of this what you will, as the story comes from the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's church-owned Washington Times and may be more fiction than fact, but "a senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser." Yes, the EMD Safety Bracelet from Lamperd Less Lethal is designed to make flying a fun experience once again. Just check out everything it can do:
Take the place of an airline boarding pass.
Contain personal information about the traveler.
Be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage.
Shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes.
—>Police arrested Robert Farnham for "habitual criminality" and "fraud on a restaurant" after his doctor reported him for faking heart attacks to avoid paying bills. The Wisconsin resident, who has been caught pulling the same routine five times this year, most recently keeled over in Applebees to avoid paying $22.66 for a "steak, salad, mashed potatoes, a soda, a strawberry smoothie and a brownie." More »
—>Wired's Threat Level blog says that the judge in the Viacom/Google lawsuit has made a ruling forcing Google to turn over "every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses," to Viacom. More »
Google now helps catch criminals. The FBI identified a Citibank PIN thief by cross-referencing security camera footage with an ICQ handle and personal photos on ham radio enthusiasts sites. [Information Week] More »
In case you were wondering, yes, it is illegal to trade sex for a $100 gas card. [The Smoking Gun] More »
—>A Cleveland paramedic was arrested last week after being caught on video using credit cards she had stolen from an 87-year-old patient, according to The Plain Dealer. Tiffany Forte, age 32, has been working for the Cleveland Emergency Medical Services for the last seven years. A police statement says she was seen on video surveillance at Target and Marshalls racking up $1000 worth of charges while wearing her EMS t-shirt. Details, inside... More »
—>Bobo and Joy Dickson bought a house had been headed for foreclosure, but JPMorgan Chase apparently didn't get the message that the former owners had moved out and the new owners were in residence. So, naturally, they hired a firm to drill the Dickson's locks and take everything they owned, including their food. Now JPMorgan Chase is "taking it seriously." More »
—>That headline is the good news. The bad news is the $61 million in damages ordered by a French court isn't meant for regular shoppers who have been defrauded when shopping on eBay. Instead, it's been awarded to LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the French luxury goods company behind Louis Vuitton purses (among other fancy things, as you can see from their name). LVMH argued that "90 percent of the Louis Vuitton bags and Dior perfumes sold on eBay are fakes," and that eBay profited off the sales without doing enough to stop them. EBay can appeal the decision, or simply click the "Pay It Now!" button. More »
—>A former regional manager for Countrywide Home Loans, the mega mortgage company whose shady mortgage mill came to epitomize the subprime meltdown, went on The Today Show camera to detail some of the company's questionable practices. Here's some of the tricks he warned upper management about during his 6-month stint before he was fired for refusing to give loans to unqualified buyers: More »
—>Melanie Schleiger is proof that credit card fraud sometimes starts at home, after she and her boyfriend were arrested last week for making 69 purchases totaling $11,715 on a credit card belonging to her grandmother, who died in 2003. The charges were discovered when the deceased woman's daughter-in-law received the bill and called the police. It's going to be an awkward Fourth of July this year! More »
—>The band Devo is suing McDonald's over a toy which bears a striking resemblance to the band's signature look made popular in the 80's. The "American Idol" series of happy-meal toys features plastic characters that play their own little tune when activated. "New Wave Nigel" depicts a character wearing the band's famous "energy dome" and even plays a song that sounds Devo-esque. Unfortunately for McDonald's, that little hat is copyrighted and trademarked, according to Rolling Stone. Details, inside... More »
—>Wired has been covering the ongoing investigation into recurring ATM pin thefts from Citibank accounts, and their latest article tracks how Ukrainian immigrants, a ringleader back in Russia, a hacked company named Fiserv that runs Citibank-branded ATMs in 7-Elevens, and an online payment service that also offers money laundering for a small fee all come together to steal your money. It's an amazing look at how the U.S. tries to combat the threat of ATM-related theft. More »
—>The Attorneys General of Illinois and California announced today that they are suing Countrywide Financial for its role in the subprime mortgage meltdown. More »
There is a company by the name of Ticketsmyway.com (Event Tickets LLC) that has the scam of the century running. Their operations run like this. More »
—>A Chase Bank teller who befriended an 86-year-old senior allegedly fleeced the women out of most of her $400,000 in savings, says the Chicago Sun-Times, and even though the bank caught the teller and fired her... they're taking a long time to repay the stolen money. More »
—>David becomes our first reader to fly under the TSA's new ID policy. Formerly, if you refused or were unable to show ID you could still fly — but were required to undergo secondary screening by the TSA. Now they've altered their position slightly— fliers who willingly refuse to show ID are now barred from flying. The new rule went into effect over the weekend, and David says that in order to board the plane after forgetting his driver's license he had to answer questions about his political party affiliation and previous addresses. More »
—>A legal brief submitted by an attorney representing The Motion Picture Association of America states that intellectual-property holders should have the right to collect up to $150,000 per violation without having to actually prove copyright infringement, Wired reports. The MPAA attorney, who seems to feel very inconvenienced by the whole "due process" thing writes, "It is often very difficult, and in some cases, impossible, to provide such direct proof when confronting modern forms of copyright infringement, whether over P2P networks or otherwise; understandably, copyright infringers typically do not keep records of infringement." Details, inside... More »
—>The FDA sent U.S. Marshals to seize "various animal food products" stored at a PETCO distribution center in Joliet, Illinois yesterday, because the storage conditions had been deemed unsanitary twice in a row: More »
It's been a few weeks without a BPA story, so here goes: Four parents in Ohio have sued Evenflo, Avent America, Handicraft, Playtex Products, and Novartis for using bisphenol A in their baby products. They're seeking class action status. [Washington Post] More »
—>Update: Voted! Passed 293-129. Today the House votes on a new compromise FISA Bill that will make the NSA's formerly questionable activitieslike spying on Americanslegal, and will grant conditional immunity upon the telephone companies that aided the NSA in spying on their customers. It's "conditional" because there will still be a court review, but nobody seems to be taking the court review seriously: Senator Russ Feingold, D-WI, calls it a "capitulation" in the ongoing fight over holding the telcos responsible, and Rep. Roy Blunt, R-MO, says the review will be a "formality." Looks like you're about to get off free, Verizon and AT&T! More »
—>Thomas Jefferson, 43, was part of a crew subcontracted by Verizon installing cable in a subdivision in Glen Allen, VA, when police say he went to a house where a 13 year old girl was home alone and asked for a drink of water. NBC12 says that after he asked for the water he "touched the girl in her private areas." More »
The FTC claims that CompuCredit didnt properly disclose that it monitored spending and cut credit lines if consumers used their cards at certain places. Among them: tire and retreading shops, massage parlors, bars, billiard halls, and marriage counseling offices. "What they didnt say was that you could be punished for specific kinds of purchases." More »
Over 400 people have been charged in the government's national mortgage fraud probe, called "Operation Malicious Mortage," which dealt with individual rather than corporate fraud. [Reuters] More »
Sign of economic desperation: man robs kids' lemonade stand, but the kids chase him into nearby house and call the cops, who arrest him and charge him with felony robbery. [AP] More »
—>Once again we remind you not to drink too much at the airport before getting on your flight. We know airports are boring and sad and they make you want to kill the pain with copious amounts of gin. Don't do it — or you could end up punching a JetBlue flight attendant in the face. More »
Here's a new excuse for bad service: AT&T is being plagued by copper thieves in Tennessee. The thefts of copper cables "has caused disruptions to voice and data communications, as well as emergency calls, company officials said." [The Tennessean] More »
—>When we read stories like Tanya Andersen's and consider the countless others who have been wrongfully targeted by trade groups like the RIAA, it becomes evident that the system by which DMCA takedown notices are issued is very far from perfect. For the uninitiated, DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notices are official statements which assert that an artist's or company's intellectual rights have been violated (i.e. copyright infringement) and often threaten legal action against an individual. In a study conducted by the University of Washington, researchers proved that this system is seriously flawed, according to the New York Times. In one experiment, the team received takedown notices from the MPAA which accused 3 laserjet printers of downloading the latest Indiana Jones movie and Iron Man. More, inside... More »
—>If you were still somehow unconvinced that the RIAA's legal strategy is "be sleazy, intimidate, then profit," their latest legal maneuvering might finally convince you. Next week, a judge was to decide whether their case against a New York family should be thrown outthe family's lawyer, RIAA critic Ray Beckerman, argued "that if the RIAA can't prove anybody downloaded the music from an open share folder, then the case would have to be dismissed." More »
Contractor crime isn't just for Comcast: Two men in Verizon Wireless longsleeves robbed a 64-year-old lady's home at gunpoint, binding her and her live-in-aid's hands and taking cash, jewelry, and electronics. [FairfaxCounty.gov] More »
—>Wal-Mart employee, Ray Canales, age 18, has been arrested for allegedly stabbing a teenage customer inside the store, according to KPRC. The altercation started at about 10:15pm Wednesday night at the Wal-Mart in Pearland, TX. More, inside.... More »
—>Reader Greg wants to warn all of you not to expect too much from U-Haul and their so-called $50 guarantee. When he showed up to collect his reserved truck, he found himself waiting in line with another customer who'd reserved the same type of truck. When he overheard the employee telling her they were out of trucks, he knew that his day was going to go rapidly downhill. More »
—>On Monday, John Weatherly, age 60, appeared in court to face kidnapping charges stemming from an incident in March, 2007 when he allegedly detained a Comacst technician, The Tennessean reports. According to the police affidavit, Weatherly deadbolted his door and threatened the technician with a German Shephard and would not allow the tech to leave until he fixed his television. The judge ordered a mental evaluation for Weatherly. More, inside... More »
—>Perhaps you thought an old-fashioned siphon was the only way to steal gasoline from a vehicle, but thieves have other ways of accessing your gas tank. Heidi Perkins of Waxahachie, TX. spent $90 filling up her Dodge pickup. Yet, only a few days later her gauge was reading below empty, according to the Star-Telegram. She went to the gas station to refill and noticed the gasoline escaping from a freshly drilled hole in her gas tank. More, inside... More »
T-Mobile is suing Starbucks for allowing AT&T to supply in-store customers with free wireless Internet access using T-Mobiles lines and equipment. [NYT via Racked] More »
—>The Chicago Tribune writes that "More than 119,000 civil lawsuits against alleged debtors are clogging [Chicago] courtrooms," but since collection agencies make money off of volume business, the suits filed are based on too little information. The result: cases based on mistaken identities, or for debts already settled, or against debtors who have made good-faith efforts to work out repayment plans. "The system is out of control," one attorney tells the paper. More »
—>A woman who sent a sarcastic payment to the "Comcast Vampires" for "My Right Arm" is suing because she says Comcast employees posted a copy of her unredacted check on the internet. She says she was alerted to the security breach by a stranger from Colorado who received the check in an email that said: "This is too funny not to pass on. This is an actual payment we received via yesterdays mail." More »
—>The San Jose police have busted a multi-million dollar shoplifting ring that was paying gangs of shoplifters to collect razor blades, Oil of Olay, Pepcid AC and other products that they would then repackage and sell all over the US — and in some cases the products ended up being sold right back to the chains from which they were shoplifted. More »
—>When Citibank offered free 4 GB iPod Minis to new customers in 2004 and 2005, the product was retailing for $249, and Citibank indirectly acknowledged the value of the product by saying they'd substitute an mp3 player of "equal or greater value" if there were fulfillment problems. There weren't, but by the time Citibank got around to passing out the iPod Mini, it had dropped in price and a new 6 GB version was now on the market for $249. Citibank chose to take the savings and distribute the now cheaper 4-gig versions. Now there's a class action lawsuit against Citibank in California, where it seems all class actions are born. You can read the ruling for the certification here (PDF). More »
—>If you own an HP Pavilion Notebook and you've had problems with itspecifically overheating, problems with the power supply, and an inability to update the BIOSthen you might want to contact this law firm and tell them your story. We know class actions rarely help the individual consumer, but they do succeed in punishing the offending company occasionally, and we can't think of a computer company more in need of a good class action smackdown than HP. More »
—>A Baltimore area man was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries after two men broke in to an apartment, demanded money and then shot him before fleeing in a Comcast van, according to police. Officials have not yet determined whether or not the men work for Comcast, and calls to Comcast by WBAL radio and the AP were not returned. More »
—>Thanks to AT&T settling a recent class-action, the era of third-party scammers cramming consumers with fraudulent subscriptions to ringtone, hookup text and other stupid content services may soon be over. AT&T Customers can claim refunds for wrongful charges from up to 3 of their bills between 1/1/04 and 5/30/08. The lawyers will get $4.3 million. AT&T will now require subscriptions to 3rd party-services with recurring fees to be confirmed by responding to a text message. 3rd party services will also have to send a monthly reminder with unsubscribe info. The firm has filed similar suits against Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. Claim forms and more info at thirdpartycontentrefund.com. More »
Reader Todd says that WaMu issued him a provisional credit after he was ripped off by a fake online merchant, but reversed the credit because he didn't supply the bank with "a product description, cancellation policy, and cancellation number." He can't get a cancellation number because the transaction was fraudulent (he never received the item he ordered.) No matter who he talks to, he can't get WaMu to understand that he's been ripped off. More »
—>AT&T Mobility has agreed to offer refunds to customers who were charged for third-party services like ringtones, although if you were frequently a victim of this you'll quickly exhaust your refund quota: "Customers will able to claim refunds for spurious charges that appeared on up to three of their monthly bills between Jan. 1, 2004, and May 30, 2008." AT&T should be sending out a notification to its customers "soon," but you can already download a refund request. More »
—>Virginia police are unable to track down the creep who grabbed Michael's wife in a Rite Aid parking lot because Rite Aid is refusing to hand over its security tapes. Even worse, the store manager apparently knows the creepy grabber guy and is also refusing to help. Michael wrote to Rite Aid's corporate office begging them to cooperate with law enforcement. He hasn't heard back in two days. More »
—>Did you have a credit card between Wednesday and 1987? Great! You're part of a massive class action settlement with TransUnion. The credit reporting agency has agreed to fork out services worth over $100 to every cardholder as a way of saying "sorry for grossly violating federal privacy laws by selling your private data to businesses!" More »
—>Check-altering criminal mastermind Frank Abagnale has five ways to lockdown your checking account and secure your identity. Check fraud isn't an anachronistic threat like Communism. Determined thieves can easily use your checks to steal your cash and your identity. Here's how to stop them... More »
—>Here's a technique we'll not be adding to our list of fun ways to escalate your complaint: The 18-year-old who recently hacked Comcast and took down the company's homepage and webmail told Wired that it was Comcast's own fault... The hacker, known as EBK, called Comcast to let them know they'd been hacked. The manager scoffed and hung up: More »
—>A reader forwarded us an email that indicates a class action motion is being prepared against Hotwire, the discount travel company, for promoting hotel rooms at artifically high ratings. On Hotwire, you can't preview the hotel before booking, so the star rating is really all you have to go on—and there's at least anecdotal evidence online that Hotwire has been known to be more lenient in its rating system. Though Ryan says he's gotten some good deals through Hotwire, he adds, "I do recall booking a room around Christmas in the 2.5 to 3 star range and getting La Quinta (which as we all know is spanish for 'near a Denny's'), which is listed as a two star hotel." More »
—>Three Comcast contract workers were arrested when a witness discovered that a kitten had been spray-painted and nearly kicked to death, ABC 4 in West Valley, Utah reports. Jesus Villalovos was arrested for animal cruelty and obstruction of justice and 2 other men were cited with class B misdemeanors. The men were working in the area as contractors for Comcast around the time of the incident. Details, inside... More »
—>A woman in Arkansas has filed a federal lawsuit against Playtex Products over their use of BPA in plastic baby bottles, claiming that the company "failed to adequately disclose that its plastic bottle products are formulated using BPA," according to MSNBC. The suit is seeking class action status, which would make it the second BPA-related class action lawsuit after the one in California against Nalge Nunc International (the makers of Nalgene bottles)—although the chemical is still not classified as toxic in the U.S. More »
The Supreme Court rejected T-Mobile's appeal in 3 cases yesterday, which means an earlier federal ruling that says states "can refuse to enforce arbitration clauses if they include bans on class actions" will stand. Now T-Mobile has to go back to state courts to deal with the class action lawsuits against it. [Associated Press] More »
—>Manhattan lawyer Richard Roth says he tried not to sue Delta Airlines after the airline's "absolute incompetence" caused he and his family to rack up $21,000 in rental cars, clothes, hotels and airline tickets trying to get to Argentina for his mother's 80th birthday party, but the airline wouldn't answer his requests for reimbursement. More »
—>A state judge in Albany, NY has found that Dell "has engaged in repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct,including false and deceptive advertising of financing promotions and the terms of warranties, fraudulent, misleading and deceptive practices in credit financing and failure to provide warranty service and rebates." More »
—>The USDA has appealed a district court decision that would allow meatpackers to conduct their own tests for mad cow disease, alleging that such testing would only create "false assurances." The original plaintiff, Creekstone Farms, wants to test all of its cattle for mad cow but the USDA has prevented it from buying the testing kits. More »
—>If you bought a keg in Greensboro, NC you might have gotten some crappy beer with a more expensive label, says the News-Record. David Edward Essa, 34, and Robert Christopher Martin, 35 are charged with three counts of the delightful-sounding felony "obtaining money by false pretenses," after placing more expensive brand names on cheaper beer. More »
—>If you bought a diamond between January 1, 1994 and March 31, 2006, today is the last day to join the DeBeers class action settlement. It doesn't matter whether or not the diamond was bought from DeBeers, the diamond could have been bought from anywhere. The lawsuit contends that DeBeers uses its monopoly over most of the world's diamond mines to artificially inflate the price of diamonds and engages in other anti-competitive behaviors as well. It's expected that around $135,432,500 will be divided amongst all the eligible consumers. You can file claims online here. More »
—>In recent years, doctors have discovered that a simple apology can have a great effect in preventing malpractice lawsuits. According to the New York Times, Dr. Das Gupta, the chairman of surgical oncology at the University of Illinois Medical Center, mistakenly removed the wrong rib from one of his patients. Instead of using the classic "deny and defend" strategy, he promptly acknowledged his error and apologized to the patient. While the patient did accept a settlement from the hospital, she decided not to sue. Details, inside... More »
—>As those delicious morsels behind grocery store windows grow increasingly unaffordable, citizens become more willing to report their law-breaking neighbors to Crime Stoppers in exchange for rewards ranging from $50-$1,000. Two or three arrests per week, you could make $700, $750 per week, Sergeant Selfsaid. You could make better than a minimum-wage job. More »
—>A recent class action claims that Select Comfort Sleep Number beds are nothing more than overactive allergen mills. According to the suit, the bed's faulty air chambers allow moisture to form under the mattress foam, providing a perfect breeding ground for mold spores. More »
—>You may remember Tanya Andersen (pictured left) as the woman who was falsely accused of illegally sharing over 1,000 songs, thus becoming the target of an unsuccessful RIAA lawsuit. According to The Oregonian, a federal magistrate has awarded her nearly $108,000 in recompense for attorney's fees and other costs associated with her successfully fighting the lawsuit. Details, inside... More »
—>A class action lawsuit has been filed accusing GlaxoSmithKline of lying to the Patent office and dickering with fake patent litigation against generic drug makers to fraudulently stymie generic versions of Wellbutrin from hitting the market. The lawsuit applies to people who directly bought Wellbutrin from GSK in 100 or 150mg hits between Jan 24, 2002 and June 30, 2006. Obviously, the long GSK could keep a generic version of their drug off the market, the more money they could make. People interested in joining could probably contact the firm of Roda and Nast, lead plaintiff team, for more information. More »
—>Talk about crappy service! JetBlue is the number 1 and the number 2 airline! A man from NYC is suing JetBlue "for more than $2 million because he says a pilot made him give up his seat to a flight attendant and sit on the toilet for more than three hours on a flight from California," reports CBS News. We're not going to judge the airline too harshly until more of the story comes out, just in case it turns out to be another upset passenger overstating the situationbut if it's true, it's going to be hard for JetBlue to wipe this story from the public's memory for a while. Especially with all the joke opportunities. More »
—>According to 9 News in Denver, James Hartman was convicted and sentenced to 8 years in prison for spending $3.2 million on vehicles and land using his brother's photocopied driver's license and social security number. Investigators are still trying to understand how this man could do so much spending damage with virtually zero credentials. Details, inside... More »
—> We pause this blog to bring you a message from Canada: A single mother has been fired by the iconic Canadian donut chain Tim Horton's for giving a free donut hole to a fussy baby. The chain said the worker was caught on video "stealing" the donut hole, which, in the mysterious Canadian language, is apparently called a "Timbit" and looks freaking delicious. Reader Chris, who alerted us to this story, explains: "It's important to understand that Tim Horton's is a Canadian national icon. That makes this story so much sadder." More »
—>Reader Matt CC'd us on this sad email to Steve Jobs. It seems that some #$!@#$ at FedEx stole his Mother's Day gift right out of the box. Now he's asking Steve Jobs to help him get the stolen iPod replaced in time for Mother's Day. More »
—>Reader Alan thought that installing the Unbreakable Autolock would give him some peace of mind and enhance his vehicle's security. But those thoughts were quickly dashed when his Toyota Rav4 was stolen in the middle of the night. The device is supposed to immobilize the brake or clutch making a car impossible to drive. Alan did some research, and to his amazement, found a video of a young boy picking an identical lock in under a minute. The lock-pick video and his letter, inside... More »
Target's internal crime lab is overrun with requests from law enforcement agencies for its forensic video expertise. [Forbes] More »
—>The Star Tribune reports a woman is suing Best Buy for $50,000 after the Best Buy/Geek Squad repair service stole her naked photos from her computer, shared them with other Geek Squad agents, and even copied them onto the hard drives of other customers (this is hardly the first time Geek Squad has been caught stealing porn from customer's computers). William E. Giffels admitted in a written statement that he copied Kaylee Hall's nude photos from her computer onto his personal flash drive. On this drive, he also kept the most up-to-date version of the Geek Squad diagnostic tools and told other agents to copy from it. Then other Geek Squad made CD copies of the drive and installed the tools, along with Kaylee's photos, onto other customers' computers in the Traverse City, Michigan area. Inside, Giffels's written confession... More »
—>This is ex-police officer, Craig Bucknor. KSLA reports that the Minden, Lousiana police officer has been arrested and is being charged with felony theft for stealing gasoline from the city. It seems no one is immune from the rising cost of gas. More details, inside... More »
—>Tyson Foods has 14 days to stop claiming that their chickens are "raised without antibiotics." The deceptive nationwide campaign was brought to an end after rivals Sanderson Farms and Purdue filed suit claiming that all three poultry processors use antibiotics, and that Tyson was trying to steal an undeserved appearance of health. More »
—>Amazon has filed a complaint in NY's State Supreme Court challenging a new law that forces the retailer to collect sales tax on shipments to residents of NY state. More »
—>Have you purchased a computer from Best Buy, only to find that it had no internal parts? No hard drive. No video card. No motherboard? If so, you (allegedly) have Joseph Denice of Silver Spring, MD to thank for your gutted PC. His hobby is buying computers from Best Buy, removing the parts, and then returning the empty shell. Best Buy's employees would then put the computer husks back on store shelves where they would be repurchased by unwitting consumers such as... you. More »
If you traveled abroad anytime between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006, your credit card company probably owes you money, but how much? Under a class action suing credit card companies for double-dipping on foreign transaction fees, the best bet for getting your the money, if you don't have detailed records of all your foreign transactions, is making an estimate based on how many days you were out of the country. One good way for shutterbugs to figure this out, says Delicious Baby, is to look through your vacation/travel photos on your computer. Most likely, they have digital timestamps you can use to figure out how long you were away. Now figuring out your refund is as easy and fun as going through your old photos. The due date for filing claims at ccfsettlement.com is May 30th. More »
Although it won't affect other cases, the RIAA was handed a small smackdown this week when a U.S. district judge rejected their request for a summary judgement, and ruled that putting song files in a shared directory was not enough proof that infringement had occurred. More »
—>Wachovia, you old rascal! As soon as you wrap up one unsavory scandal, a new possible scandal comes to light. U.S. justice authorities are investigating the bank for possible money laundering through Mexican and Colombian money-transfer businesses. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that "the bank is possibly facing a deferred-prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice that would subject it to 'extensive federal oversight,'" but Wachovia denies that any such discussion has taken place. More »
It begins! A woman in California, no doubt under the expert legal advice of people who only have her best interests at heart, has filed a lawsuit against Nalgene alleging that they "knew, but downplayed risks, that a toxic substance in its popular... More »
—>It seems the floors aren't the only thing that's dirty inside Sears. According to Style Weekly, former Sears assistant manager, Robert E. Lee of Virginia, is being sued for $2.7 million for allegedly spying on a young girl and her mother through the ceiling tiles of a dressing room, while hiding inside of a "peeping hutch." The alleged crime occurred in March, 2006 when Lee was discovered spying from the masturbation station, strategically located above the ladies' dressing room. The young girl, whose age is described as "prepubescent," is said to have been traumatized when she suddenly noticed Lee leering from the ceiling while she and her mother were trying on bathing suits. Lee admitted his culpability. The lawsuit states, "During the search of the room, police officials recovered sexually explicit magazines and seminal fluids." Oh Sears. Before we were only ashamed of you, but now that shame has grown into disgust, with loathing not too far off in the distance. More »
—>The News On 6 in Tulsa, OK. reports that customer Jeff Cox was placed in intensive care after being shot by McDonald's employee Erick Thurman at a Tulsa McDonald's. The chain of unfortunate events began to unfold at approximately 2am on Sunday, April 13th. After waiting nearly an hour for her order, customer Makayla Hall returned to the drive-thru window to ask for a refund... More »
A California court has upheld the scrawny Netflix "throttling" settlement from 2006. That was when Netflix settled a class-action lawsuit that alleged they intentionally slowed down the rental rates of high-renting customers. The settlement only really benefited lawyers and Netflix, but it stands. More »
—>A Pizza Hut delivery driver with a valid handgun permit has been fired after he shot an armed robber who put a gun to his head and demanded he turn over his cash. Now an Iowa state senator is calling for a boycott of Pizza Hut:
"You tell me any Iowan that was in his situation, that had a gun put to his head, how they would've reacted differently," state Sen. Brad Zaun of Urbandale said. "I think it's the wrong decision by Pizza Hut and I will not be buying any more Pizza Hut products."
Pizza Hut says it's against company policy for delivery drivers to carry guns, even with a valid permit. More »
—>LendingTree announced today that several former employees are suspected of sharing passwords with lenders that were not approved by LendingTree, and that this may have exposed customer data including: name, address, e-mail address, phone number, Social Security number, income and employment information. More »
—>Police have arrested Paul Hank, a distribution clerk at the Smithtown, NY post office, after he stole credit cards from the mail and went on a shopping spree, says NewsdayMore »
Remember Brian Persaud, the Brooklyn construction worker who tried to sue a New York hospital for performing a by-the-books rectal exam on him in 2003? On Monday, a Manhattan jury tossed his lawsuit, claiming he failed to show he suffered assault and battery. More »
—>A Dallas court found U-Haul guilty of negligence for failing to maintain its vehicles properly, and awarded 74-year-old Talmadge Waldrip $84 million in damages, $63 million of which are punitive. "The truck's parking brake did not work at all," said the man's lawyer. "He stepped out of the truck and it rolled right over him." More »
—>This lady started taking Fen-Phen and lost 30 lbs, but now she's got high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and swollen legs, possibly indicative of primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), the negative side effect American Home Products (now known as Wyeth) were successfully sued for upwards of $14 billion. When she called Wyeth, they told her that she had "waited too long" to file a lawsuit. However, the 2006 Fen-Phen settlement actually has a clause that says there's no statute of limitations on filing a claim. Therefore, you can still join a class action lawsuit against them. Also goes to show you that calling up the customer service department probably isn't the best route to take if you're looking for objective information about suing that company... More »
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to hear Microsoft's appeal in the 'Vista Capable' class action suit, and it's moving forward to U.S. District Court. [Seattle Times] (Thanks to T.J.!) More »
If you live in the NYC area, one thing you probably won't be spending your stimulus check on now is a pair of shiny new fake Nikes—or ersatz Louis Vuittons, packs of imitation Duracell batteries, or faux-Timberland boots. More »
—>The AP is reporting that four Southwest passengers have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Southwest broke its contract with passengers by skipping important safety inspections... over a period of six years. More »
—>"We're not the mean waterboarding company that people think we are," says the general counsel for Prosper Inc., a company that sells "coaching packages" over the telephone. They're being sued by a former employee who says he was held down as his boss emptied a gallon jug of water into his mouth and nose as part of a team-building exercise. Our tipster Rachael writes that it's like "an episode of The Office gone horribly wrong." More »
Sorry, light cigarette smokers! The Second Circuit denied you class-action status in your suit against the tobacco companies. A district court judge had held that "virtually all Americans who had purchased cigarettes labeled as 'light'" could be part of the class. The appellate court laughed at this broad certification, saying it would not "reduce the range of issues in dispute and promote judicial economy." [Consumer Law & Policy Blog] More »
—>Verizon has had enough of Time Warner Cable making fun of their fiber intake and has sued the cable company, claiming that their advertising is "egregiously false" and is causing "immediate and irreparable harm" to Verizon. More »
—>All promotional CDs are forever the property of Universal Music Group and giving or throwing them away are "unauthorized distributions," according to a brief filed by UMG. In a lawsuit filed in federal court, UMG claims that ownership rights to promotional CDs, typically sent to DJs, reviewers, and others in the music business to generate hype for new releases, are expressly retained by the label. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is taking up the fight against this absurd position in UMG v. Augusto. More »
We wrote about Eric Drew a few weeks ago—his personal information was stolen by a shady lab technician while he was undergoing treatment in 2004. More »
—>You may think that your credit card and banking information is worth a lot of money to potential crooks. If you do, you're wrong. There's so much stolen personal information out there and banks are getting so good at cutting off compromised credit cards quickly that it's driving the price down. More »
Man (and Comcast employee) gets laptop and XBOX back after unleashing mobs of vigilante internetters on the thieves. [Philly Daily News] (Thanks, Markus!) More »
—>Johnson & Johnson is waiting to hear whether or not a judge in Ohio will allow any lawsuits over its Ortho birth control patch to move forward, and the New York Times says lawyers on both sides think there's a good chance he may find in the company's favor based on the doctrine of pre-emption. The argument goes that it's the FDA's responsibility to monitor the safety and labeling of drugs that go to market, and therefore if something goes wrong, it's the agency's fault and not the pharmaceutical company's. More »
—>A 70-year old Wal-Mart worker beat a 81-year-old fellow employee with a pricegun inside a Florida Wal-Mart.
Dennis O'Brien and John Esposito began arguing Sunday and O'Brien swung at Esposito with the tool in his right hand. Authorities say Esposito suffered a swollen left eye and cuts on his nose and mouth. Esposito said both he and O'Brien worked at Wal-Mart. He would not discuss the nature of their argument. The report says O'Brien told a sheriff's deputy he acted in self-defense, but security tape showed O'Brien raising his hand first, striking Esposito in the face and then pushing him to the ground. Officials booked O'Brien into the Palm Beach County Jail on aggravated battery charges.
Since they were both employees it couldn't have been about a receipt check, so I'm really at a loss as to what they could be arguing over. More »
The couple, Aaron and Catherine Boring, have succeeded in getting the photos yanked from the site, but the industrious minds over at the Smoking Gun found another even more intrusive set of photos taken by the search giant. More »
In 2004, the suit alleges, California resident Elizabeth Marcotte was hit with a $25,0000 award, plus $10,000 in attorneys' fees, in a credit-card collection case. But Ms. Marcotte allegedly wasn't notified about the arbitration, because she was served at an old address, even though she had notified the credit-card company of her new address. The NAF awarded the attorneys' fees without requiring proof that the debt collector actually incurred the fees, according to the suit. Ms. Marcotte wasn't reached for comment.In another credit-card collection case, the NAF allegedly entered an award against California resident John Sheakley, without responding to his request to appear at a hearing and explain why he didn't owe the purported debt to a bank that was a predecessor of FIA Card Services.
—> Two whistleblower lawsuits have been filed recently against insurers, faulting them for requiring unnecessary and repeated disability applications with Social Security before they'll pay out any benefits. One person says her disability insurer, the Unum Group—which was only paying her $50 a month for a temporary injury she was almost certain to recover from—called her 10 times to ask her about her Social Security disability application. The woman told the New York Times "she did not need or want money from Social Security, and did not think she was entitled to it. Her doctors had told her she would recover, and Social Security is limited to people whose disabilities are total and permanent." More »
The Starbucks barista tip sharing lawsuit has spread to New York. [NYT] More »
—>Here's the story of a guy who had to learn the hard way that "your friend who works at Lowe's and says he can get you everything 1/2 off" is a liar and a criminal. More »
—>Gibson is suing Activision, Harmonix, Electronic Arts, and MTV over alleged patent infringement over the companies' involvement in Rock Band and the Guitar Hero series. The lawsuit is not over Guitar Hero's use of the iconic Les Paul, SG, and Explorer guitars as controllers, but for violation of a decade-old patent for....drumroll please... "a method for simulating a live performance using a musical instrument, a 3D headset with stereo speakers, and a pre-recorded concert." (US Patent 5,990,405) Gibson does not rock, at all... More »
—> Anyone who has been on the receiving end of an Apple ad campaign in the past 10 years knows that they tend to play fast and loose with the truth in their ad copy. Their towers are the fastest, their laptop is the thinnest, their phone is the most advanced. With so many unchecked exaggerations, Apple sometimes comes across as the consumer electronics version of Donald Trump, augmented by killer industrial and UI designers. Now a law firm in California has filed a class-action suit against the company for misrepresenting its new 20-inch iMac models as being capable of producing millions of colors, when in fact they use a substandard el-cheapo screen that is nowhere near as capable as what's in the 24-inch models. More »
—> Last year's class-action settlement against Mastercard, Visa, and several banks over the fees they charged customers who traveled abroad came up to about $336 million, and of that, 31 law firms are claiming a total of about $86 million for fees. The federal judge responsible for determining how much they get paid wants to know why. More »
The world's largest retailer said Tuesday in a letter to the family of Deborah Shank it will not seek to collect money the Shanks won in an injury lawsuit against a trucking company for the accident. More »
—>Have you heard of "credit card shaving?" In this version of credit card fraud, thieves try out 16-digit number sequences until hitting one that works. Then they take gift cards from stores and shave off the digits and glue them onto a credit card. They scratch the magnetic strip so the clerk has to enter the credit card number by hand. It's apparently all the rage in Portland There's no defense against it except to monitor your statement for suspicious charges. More »
—> Last Thursday, a 400-pound man in his early thirties was confronted at a Macy's in Oakland, California, and accused of shoplifting a hat from the men's department. According to CBS News in San Francisco, "Security officers at the mall then attempted to arrest and detain Gomes, who allegedly resisted and assaulted security personnel, according to police." The police were called, but on their way to the mall they received a follow-up report that the man had become unresponsive. He died later that evening at a hospital. More »
—> A class-action lawsuit has been filed in California against Verizon and several third-party companies, alleging that they promoted illegal gambling by enticing customers to pay to enter contests in which there was an "infinitesimally" small chance of winning, reports RCRWireless. "The suit centers on 99-cent charges levied on wireless consumers who played contests associated with popular TV shows like 'Deal or No Deal' and 'Sole Survivor.'" The plaintiffs claim that the contests were less promotional sweepstakes than "illegal lotteries designed to generate revenues far in excess of the value of the cash awarded." More »
—> In the state of California it is illegal for supervisors to share in employee tips. Starbucks recently lost a lawsuit brought by an employee who said he was forced to share a portion of his tips with his supervisor. The judgment awarded over $100 million in back tips and interest to the Starbucks baristas of California, and now several similar lawsuits are pending in other states. More »
When Eric Drew was in the hospital being treated for leukemia five years ago, a lab technician stole his personal information and began opening up credit card accounts in his name. More »
The US Isn't the only wacky lawsuit country. In China, KFC won a defamation lawsuit filed by an elderly gentleman who accused the fast food chain of damaging his social standing, because he felt their "teadog set meal" implied that he and his grandson had become "dog friends." [China Daily] More »
—>A Verizon store employee in Monticello New York was charged with criminal possession of a weapon after threatening two customers with a switchblade knife after getting into an argument with them. The disagreement spilled out into the parking lot where the 27-year old employee, Shereem S. Burch, continued to wave his blade at the couple. Most likely they were probably trying to get out of contract without paying termination fee and Shereem decided to take matters into his own hands and exact a little termination fee of his own devising. More »
—>A California judge has ordered Starbucks to pay its employees more than $100 million in tips and interest that was paid to shift supervisors, says the Associated Press.More »
A 9-page look at how big business has been scoring big wins in the Supreme Court over the past 30 years [NYT]. More »
—>Andrew's wife got mugged, the thief rand up purchases on her credit card, and now CapitalOne has sued them for $1200 and won. How can this be? Andrew writes:
In May of 2005 my wife was mugged at one of the elevated train stations in Chicago. After calling the police and filing a police report, she started calling each credit card company to cancel each account. Except she forgot about one card, her CapitalOne card. A card hardly ever used and only had a $500.00 limit...
—>GMAC Bank is suing mortgage company HTFC for selling improperly secured loans, which lead to the hilariously blue and aggressive deposition from HTFC CEO Aron Wider. Wider dropped the f-bomb 73 times, frustrating the opposing counsel's attempts to get him to answer difficult questions like "Where are you currently employed?" Some of the more colorful and creative expletives from the testimony of Mr. Wider, who, according to his company website, serves as company Coprorate Information [sic], CEO / Senior Underwriter, and Radio Engineer, inside... More »
—>None of the estimated $400 million that the RIAA received in settlements with Napster, KaZaA, and Bolt over allegations of copyright infringement has gone to the artists whose copyrights were allegedly infringed. Now the artists are considering suing the RIAA. More »
—> A woman has filed a $200,000 lawsuit against American Airlines alleging the flight crew failed to protect her from a passenger who moved into the seat next to hers while she was sleeping, then "masturbated to her" and—well, you've seen "There's Something About Mary"? Yeah, that. More »
—> The Prescription Access Litigation (PAL) coalition filed suit against 11 drug companies in 2002 for artificially inflating the average wholesale price, or AWP, of certain drugs, including ones used to treat serious illnesses such as cancer and HIV. This week, PAL announced that the companies have agreed to pay $125 million to settle—82.5% of the amount will be used to compensate third-party payor's claims, and the remaining 17.5% will be used for consumer claims. Here's a list of the drugs involved, and after the jump is a quick guide to see whether you'll qualify for a claim, pending the judge's approval of the settlement. More »
—>Yesterday we mentioned that the makers of Airborne had reached a tentative settlement over claims that it falsely represented its product as a "miracle cold buster," by citing a study done by a research firm that ABCNews describes as "a two-man operation started up just to do the Airborne study. There was no clinic, no scientists and no doctors." More »
—> Lifestyle Lift claims it's a "minor one-hour procedure with major results," but a lot of customers who have paid for the procedure have been left unhappy, and they've consequently posted reviews about it on a plastic surgery review blog called RealSelf. Lifestyle Lift has sued RealSelf, claiming trademark infringement, and now RealSelf has countersued, claiming Lifestyle Lift padded RealSelf's site with shill reviews. More »
—>The Airborne dietary supplement, which claims to help ward off the cold and flu, has reached a tentative settlement in a class action lawsuit that the company misrepresented its product. You can file online or by mail here. Boxes of Airborne used to cite a study by "GNG Pharmaceutical Services Inc" that said it tested 120 people and 47% showed little or no cold flu symptoms, versus 23% of a placebo. However, an ABC news investigation revealed that GNG was a two-man operation started up just to make the Airborne study, and had no clinic, scientists or doctors. Following the negative publicity, Knight-McDowell Labs removed references to the GNG study from its packages. Maybe people just weren't reading the box carefully and failed to apply directly to the forehead. More »
Motivational coaching company Prosper is the subject of an unusual lawsuit: "A supervisor...is accused of waterboarding an employee in front of his sales team to demonstrate that they should work as hard on sales as the employee had worked to breathe." C'mon team, let's Gitmo sales! [Salt Lake Tribuine] More »
—>Should it take several months and a small claims lawsuit to get Best Buy to take back their defective washing machine? No, but that's what it did take for reader Keith. More »
The Humane Society of America has sued the USDA in an attempt to close a loophole that allows downer cows who aren't otherwise ill into the food supply. They claim the loophole increases the risk of introducing mad cow disease to humans, and leads to abuse against the cattle—like with, oh, say, a forklift. [Wall Street Journal] More »
—> Earlier this year we noted that Network Solutions is "front running" domain names—that is, automatically purchasing domain names that customers search for and holding them for four days before releasing them again. During that period, the only way customers can buy the domain names is through Network Solutions for 3 to 5 times more than what you can pay elsewhere. Now "search engine expert" Chris McElroy has filed suit against them, named ICANN as a defendant, and is seeking class action status. More »
—> Tiny Details is a work-at-home company that pays hobbyists to make little dollhousey things. You buy the materials from Tiny Details for $55, make the assigned object(s), and Tiny Details buys them back. Unfortunately, many customers have complained about problems getting payments or refunds from the company over the years—here's their less-than-stellar BBB entry. Yesterday Kristopher Buchan, the owner of Tiny Details, emailed one former customer/client to tell him his complaints amounted to libel. Buchan demanded the customer remove them from teh interweb, and threatened him repeatedly with a lawsuit. And now we're posting about it on The Consumerist! See how that works, Tiny Details? More »
—>BlueHippo, the scammy "no credit check" computer seller accused in several states of taking money from customers without providing the computers and other electronics it supposedly sells, has settled with the FTC for $5 million. They did not admit wrongdoing. More »
—> Last December, Theodore Karantsalis received a letter from Sprint, where he was a customer, telling him that someone who banks with Wells-Fargo—where he's not a customer—was presented with his invoice and personal data when they logged into their Wells-Fargo Checkfree account. The customer contacted Sprint, and Sprint contacted Karantsalis. Karantsalis decided that he'd deal with the issue on his own instead of bringing a lawyer into it or throwing his hands up in frustration, so he took both companies to small claims court. More »
—>Commerce Bank accidentally deposited $5 million into Benjamin Lovell's account. He spent $2 million of it and now he's being charged with grand larceny. More »
Consumer groups, which were not involved in the lawsuit, say more than 100 people have been killed or injured from scalding and burns caused by hot foods and liquids spilling from the stove top, or from being crushed by the weight of a stove that has tipped over. More »
—>The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about retailers who hire law firms to engage in something called "civil recovery," in which alleged shoplifters are harassed into paying thousands of dollars... even if the case against them has been dropped, or the retailer never intended to sue at all. More »
—>Hey want to buy an "ionic air filter"? You don't? Is it because of that annoying class action lawsuit? Hey guess what? You're not the only one! After losing a class action lawsuit Sharper Image " said in court papers it fell victim to ``negative publicity'' as it fought lawsuits over its Ionic Breeze air purifiers." More »
—> This is a Sunbeam heating pad that a LiveJournal user bought for his girlfriend. After a little while she said that the heating pad was too hot, even on low, turned it off, let it cool, and set it aside.More »
—> Georgia state inspectors closed two large Cisco gas stations just across the state line from Florida last week in what the Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture described as "one of the worst cases of shorting gas customers he's seen since he took office back in 1969." (Why Ag? Why not?) An inspector found that a five gallon test pump turned up over a quart short at the Cisco Travel Plaza off Interstate 95's Exit 6, and a similar test revealed a suspiciously similar shortage at another Cisco Travel Plaza off Exit 1. More »
—> "Hold on," you say to yourself—"If it's a gratuity, doesn't that by definition mean it goes to the wait staff?" Not if you're a server for World Yacht, a "luxury dining fleet" in Manhattan that will now be sued by its employees for slapping automatic gratuities on diners' bills, then keeping the extra money for itself. New York labor laws require "employers to pass on to workers any payments that customers understand to be tips," but World Yacht argued that the banquet industry was exempt, and its servers should get nothing. Thanks to last week's ruling, the employees can move forward with their suit. More »
If you've just realized that someone has stolen your catalytic converter, here's why they did it. [Wired] More »
A 23-year-old gas station attendant in Massachusetts has been charged with identity theft after a customer noticed that her card was used to make additional purchases a few hours after she'd been at the station. More »
—>Here's a little free advice from your friends at The Consumerist: Don't deposit bags of meth at the ATM. You don't get any interest and they're probably going to figure out who are after they see your name and account number. More »
The complaint states that in violation of FCC rules, Verizon used its knowledge of switching customers — through requests to have their phone numbers moved or "ported" to the new provider — to ply them with "price incentives and gift cards" to stay with Verizon. More »
—>The LA Times says that doctors are objecting to a letter sent by Blue Cross of California requesting that the docs help "indentify members who have failed to disclose medical conditions on their application that may be considered pre-existing." More »
—> On November 26th, a 35-year-old woman was shopping at Best Buy in Daytona Beach, Florida when there was some sort of communication breakdown, and a police officer who was at the store tasered her. We wrote about it here, and it turns out there's a video of the event here. At the time there were few details, but the full story has since been pieced together and resolved, and last week the Florida state attorney said "charges won't be pursued because there is no evidence that Beeland committed a crime." More »
—>Raelyn Campbell is suing Best Buy for $54 million for losing her laptop and lying to her for months about it. She bought a laptop from Best Buy with an extended warranty, it broke, she sent it in for repairs, months later she didn't have her laptop and after getting the runaround the store finally said it had lost her laptop and offered her a $900 gift card. She paid over $1,100 for the laptop, she paid for software on it, and it had irreplaceable photos, music, and personal information, including her tax returns. She freely admits she chose the high figure to attract media attention. She tells the Red Tape Chronicles "I can't help but wonder how many other people have had their computer stolen (or) lost by Best Buy and then been bullied into accepting lowball compensation offers for replacement expenses and no compensation for identity theft protection expenses." She also has a blog. More »
—> Microsoft's "Vista Capable" program was so misleading that even Microsoft executives complained about it according to emails revealed last week in court. The emails were read aloud at a hearing to determine class-action status for a related lawsuit against the company. One corporate vice president wrote, ""I PERSONALLY got burnt. ... Are we seeing this from a lot of customers? ... I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine." The co-president of another division wrote, "We really botched this. ... You guys have to do a better job with our customers." More »
—> A legally blind New York woman sued several fast food restaurants for ridiculing her when she asked for help reading their menus, but a federal judge threw out the suit on the grounds that "ADA laws don't regulate 'rudeness or insensitivity' of workers." Last week, however, an appeals court overturned that ruling and now the suit—" believed to be the first of its kind—could go before a jury this year." More »
—>Remember RMG Technologies, the horrible little company that made five-year-olds cry by snatching up all the Hannah Montana tickets? Boaz Lissauer, a New Jesery plastic surgeon, recently sued them and other ticket resellers after paying $195 for nosebleed seats worth $63 to see the Police in Madison Square Garden. Lissauer is now asking a Pittsburgh court for class action status. More »
—>The North Miami police are looking for Antonio McKenzie, a "fake Target clerk" suspected of stealing numerous iPod Touches from Target Department Stores in South Florida. More »
—>The photo at left is an actual photo of the damage done to this lady's hair and head. Lane writes:
I'm sure you get hundreds of complaints about salons, but have any of the salon owners in question put a lien on the car of the injured party? Mine has. More »
—> A woman sued Wachovia last year because it allowed a telemarketing scam company to process stolen payments through its banks, despite complaints from customers and warnings from other banks and federal authorities. Wachovia said it had no idea what was going on, but now documents have been revealed that prove people high up in the company not only knew, but that "the bank, in fact, solicited business from companies it knew had been accused of telemarketing crimes." Why? How about millions of dollars of extra revenue from steep fees whenever a fraud-related chargeback went through? The lawyers for the woman are now seeking class-action status for the lawsuit. More »
—>If you step into this Whataburger in Kilgore, Texas, you automatically agree to the burger joint's mandatory arbitration clause. At least that's what the sign on the door says. According to Mother Jones:
Sorey says when he went in, he told a befuddled cashier that he didn't think that the arbitration notice was enforceable, that anyway he wasn't agreeing to it, and, "I need a taquito and a coffee." He says he sat down, watched some traffic, and ate his taquito. "I didn't choke, I didn't burn myself, and I didn't sue 'em," he reports.
That's one burger that's hard to swallow. Might choke on your after you read this sign. That's one raw burger. Etc. More »
—>You would think city would be giving a guy a special bonus for not producing any trash, but San Carlos, CA is suing 53-year-old Eddie House for canceling his garbage service. House says he recycles most about everything by driving to the recycling center himself, gives food scraps to his dog, sells larger items or gives them away on craigslist, and burns his backyard clippings. Reports The Examiner: "House says he stopped his service with Allied Waste about a year ago after realizing that his garbage cans were nearly always empty. "It's just me and my dog, so I don't have a whole lot of garbage to begin with and I recycle everything," he said." Town ordinance requires that everyone contract with Allied Waste for at least once a week pickup. The city says they were alerted to the situation after neighbors complained he was burning garbage (a not-so-very green move). House says he was only burning firewood. "I don't understand a city ordinance that requires you to fill up a can. That's downright foolishness," said Mr. House. More »
—>Tmobile was hit with a class action suit yesterday over its charging customers for unwanted text messages. Unscrupulous marketers can get your cellphone number, send you "premium" texts (for dating services, daily jokes, horoscopes, etc), and then have Tmobile bill you for them. Tmobile gets to keep a piece of the profit. Other cellphone companies let you disable text messages sent from the internet, where most text spam originates, or turn off text messages all together. Tmobile has refused to give customers this option. More »
—>According to the Provo, UT Daily Herald the founder of "Flix Club" a defunct company that edited swearing and nudity from films and resold them as "family friendly' versions, has been arrested on charges that he and another man paid two 14-year-old girls for sex. Police also said that the men may have been using the "family friendly" video business as a front for producing porn. More »
—>The New York Times says that the FBI has begun an investigation that includes almost the entire mortgage industry—from the lenders to the brokers to the Wall Street banks who packaged the loans as securities. They're cooperating with the SEC and wouldn't name which firms they're targeting, but the Times said that it includes 14 companies. More »
—>Ex-Best Buy manager Michael Oliveri, may "suck," but he's pretty darn clever. After he was fired from Best Buy he applied with Circuit City and Target, but became suspicious when job offers from those companies were abruptly terminated. More »
Daniel Lorello, an archivist with New York's department of education, was arrested this week and charged with "grand larceny, possession of stolen property and fraud" for allegedly "stealing hundreds of historic documents, many of which he sold on eBay." More »
James Teegarden Jr., the former vice president of operations at Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, explained Tuesday in U.S. District Court how he and others at the company made up much of the content that appeared in Enzyte ads. More »
—>Horribly offended by the GTA: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" mod in which you could (help, help) indulge in crude polygon sex? Great. You're being offered a $5 cash settlement. More »
—>Somehow, an arbitrator has approved a massive $1 billion class action lawsuit against Verizon over their early termination fees. In letting the lawsuit proceed, the arbitrator wrote, "...millions of class members are entitled to adjudication of the central common questions of fact or law in this arbitration related to whether the $175 early termination fee imposed by respondents Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless ... is based upon an unenforceable liquidated damage clause." With cellphone companies switching to prorated ETFs and the rise in ETF-related lawsuits around the country, one wonders if we won't see the death of ETFs in the next few years. By that time, cellphone companies will have figured out a new technique to keep people from leaving their contracts. More »
—> Last week, Pennsylvania's Attorney General filed a consumer protection lawsuit against the PA-based company Pure Weight Loss and its owner, Vahan Karian. Pure Weight Loss, which has about 400 stores nationwide, announced last December that it was going out of business, and yet continued to accept pre-payment from unaware customers up to four days after posting the announcement on its website. Since closing, it has failed to reimburse customers fees for unfulfilled contracts or deliver the supplies they've already bought. More »
—>A Californian real-estate appraiser is suing Washington Mutual, saying she was blackballed after refusing to to give artificially inflated property value estimates.
...last May, according to the suit, a WaMu manager upbraided her for describing local property values as "declining" in an appraisal. The manager insisted that Wertz "change her report to indicate 'stable' conditions so that the loan could be approved." More »
—> Today, New York City and state expanded their class action lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corp. to include two more company officers, twenty underwriters (including big investment banks like Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch), and two accounting firms. "We will pursue every avenue to ensure that those who defrauded investors are held accountable for their actions," said the NYC Comptroller. More »
"Defendants' infringing dresses are 'wrap' dresses made of materials designed to look like silk jersey, a style consumers and the general public have come to associate with DVF," the complaint said. More »
—>Several Costco employees who spotted two men breaking into a car parked near the store's tire center chased the men toward the main store where an assistant police chief happened to be shopping. More »
—>Holy crap! A "multiagency" investigation that started with a single shoplifting incident has lead to the arrest of an 18 person crime ring in Florida, says The Ledger. More »
—>If you had experienced two or more repairs on your Treo 600 or Treo 650, Palm has just settled a class action lawsuit under which you might be able to claim benefits. You can either get a $50 or $75 rebate good for purchase of a new Palm smartphone, or you can get your device repaired even if the original warranty has expired. The deadline for filing is July 28, 2008. More information is available at palzasettlement.com. Inside, The full text of the email Palm sent out. Out of curiosity, are there ever any class action lawsuits that don't settle out of court? More »
—>A class action lawsuit can proceed in Washington after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled T-Mobile's mandatory binding arbitration clause "unconscionable and unenforceable under Washington state law." More »
Merola said the McDonald's employees told her to wait there for her food. Merola was handcuffed behind her back and put in the cruiser. Another officer arrived and took her to the Pinellas County Jail . More »
A proposed class action lawsuit was filed yesterday in California against Dannon over the company's unsubstantiated claims that its Activia, Activia Lite and DanActive "probiotic" yogurts were healthier than regular yogurt. More »
—> The French bank Societe Generale has announced that a trader "concealed massive trading positions built up over 2007 and 2008 through 'a scheme of elaborate fictitious transactions,'" which ended up losing the bank 7.1 billion dollars. That's as much damage by a single employee as the subprime-related losses the bank reported in the past two months. Oops. More »
According to court documents, the Patels boarded United Airlines Flight 836 from Shanghai to Chicago on July 17. The tickets came with an airline pledge to furnish the Patels and other members of their group with Hindu meals. More »
—> Today the U.S. Supreme Court effectively killed off any chance of a $40 billion class-action lawsuit against the investment firms that did business with Enron. The suit charged that the Wall Street firms were complicit in Enron's massive corporate fraud fiasco. The Supreme Court, however, just ruled on a similar case last week and found that "third parties - vendors, contractors and consultants such as banks, accountants or attorneys - can't be sued over corporate fraud unless investors relied on them when making their investing decisions." More »
Taking a big company to small claims court sounds like a big hassle but reader Bill has done it successfully three times. He says the time and effort spent on taking a company to small claims court is far less then how it long it takes to get companies to fix above-average in complexity problems.Here's his typical expenditure for a small claims suit: $24 and 45 minutes. The $24 is the cost to file a claim. The 45 minutes includes his total time of driving to and from court to file, as well as the time spent on the phone with the company when they call to settle.See, in all cases, he hasn't even had to go to court: the company calls him up the day before the court date and gives him a settlement. It seems they prefer to do that then pay to fly a company representative who isn't fully versed on all the facts to court. Here's his true story of how he got what he deserved from Tmobile and Washington Mutual, without breaking a sweat.
—>U-Haul has settled a class-action suit by agreeing to pay customers $50 each time they fail to honor a confirmed reservation. The settlement comes after an appeals court agreed that the rental giant had "engaged in fraudulent practices." More »
Well, this post is pretty much written—I can't do better than that. But here are details: a Illinois woman named Roman Tesfaye alleges that when she went for an eye exam this past summer, the assistant, Joseph Vernell Jr., put a strip over her eyes and told her to keep them closed for 5-7... More »
Queens prosecutors said Monday that a 51-year-old worker and his 39-year-old supervisor are charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property. They say the jewelry was stolen last week from a container marked "high value" that was being shipped from Switzerland to Brazil. We won't lie, corrupt baggage handlers piss us off. These two specimens broke open the container and stole the jewelry, hiding it in a locker at the American Airlines terminal. More »
—>A 38-year-old construction worker who suffered a head injury on the job was sedated and given a rectal exam against his will, says the New York Times. More »
—>If you bought sheets at Bed Bath & Beyond you may have some money coming to you from a class action settlement. BB&B has begun notifying customers that they've settled a class action lawsuit brought over the thread count in their sheets. Apparently, said sheets had been labeled in a non-standard manner. More »
Why J.K. Rowling should lose her misguided copyright lawsuit against the author of a Harry Potter reference book. [Slate via BoingBoing] More »
A longtime fan is suing the New York Yankees over some players' reported use of performance-enhancing drugs, saying he wants repayment for $221 in tickets and a public response from his once beloved team. More »
—>The other day reader Dave wrote us because he'd noticed a bunch of strange debits from Sprint on his bank account. Since he uses Sprint, he thought it was a billing error, albeit a serious one, because Sprint had debited $1,717.49 in the past two weeks. Dave hadn't been able to find anyone at Sprint to help him reverse the charges and wrote to us for advice. Yikes! More »
—>Ever bought a diamond? You may be eligible for a piece of a multi-million class action lawsuit alleging that diamond giant DeBeers conspired to monopolize the diamond industry by fixing, raising, and controlling diamond prices, and by issuing false and misleading advertising. The class is open to anyone who bought any diamond from anyone from January 1, 1994 to March 31, 2006. $135,432,500 will be divided amongst all the approved consumer claimants. More »
—>Quick, you stuffed $195 worth of videos into your jacket and you're rushing towards the exit when you spot Target's menacing security force. What do you do? If you answered "set lingerie on fire as a diversion," then you may be as bright as 19-year-old shoplifter Tabitha Bozman of Elyria, Ohio. More »
Woman sues Apple for not letting iPods play WMA files. [Cnet] More »
Wisconsin-based hunting stand company Ardisam Inc. has agreed to pay a $420,000 civil penalty to settle a government lawsuit. In 2004, the company recalled 78,000 hunting tree stands that "unexpectedly detached from trees," sending hunters tumbling to the ground. More »
—> Jury selection began today for the federal trial against the man, his mom, and the business associates responsible for the "male enhancement" supplement Enzyte, reports WKRC in Cincinnaaa-ti. The charges against Steve Warshak and his Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals company include "committing wire and mail fraud, money laundering, and misbranding." No mention of creating what's possibly the world's most irritating TV ad, but we guess that crime is so great that it's being left for hell to sort out. More »
Awhile back, I sold a ton of video games on Craigslist here in San Francisco. A buyer contacted me and agreed to purchase them and I was delighted. I didn't have the time to post everything on eBay separately and I wanted to get the transaction over as quickly as possible. A week later, I received a Wal-mart money order in the mail and shipped off the packages. More »
—>Did you know that every time you purchase something from Overstock.com you agree to a mandatory binding arbitration clause and have no legal recourse against the company? Even if they illegally disclose too much of your information on your receipt? More »
Faced with foreclosure on her Russellville, Indiana home, Christina Snyder allegedly concocted the kind of plan that now has insurance executives on edge. More »
—>Reader Krissy writes in with an absolutely horrible story about dealing with WaMu after her purse was stolen. She's been living without a checking account or debit card since October because of WaMu. More »
—>A Michigan man was caught shoplifting $300 worth of hunting knives from Meijer after he scuffled with security guards and fell forward, impaling himself. He'd hidden the knives in the waistband of his pants. More »
Oh, by the way, KamberEdelson, the law firm that filed the class action against Sears over its website exposing customer's purchase histories? They're the same folks who successfully sued Sony BMG for selling all those DRM-riddled music CDs. Sears could be in trouble. [Washington Post] More »
—>Reuters reports a class-action lawsuit has been filed against Sears for its managemyhome.com site which allowed you to type in anyone's name and address or phone number and get a record of everything they ever bought at Sears. The suit alleges that in doing so, Sears engaged in "unfair or deceptive" practices. Not too long after our post went up on Friday reporting on the matter, the purchase history feature was turned off. Sears said it had "turned off the ability to view a customer's purchase history on Manage My Home until we can implement a validation process that will restrict access by unauthorized third parties." Yes, a validation process, that would be good to have. More »
For the next three years beginning this February, California Walgreens shoppers will enjoy a "Scanner Price Guarantee" that rewards customers who are overcharged at the register and bring it immediately to a cashier's attention. More »
—>For those of you who were wondering why you recently bought an empty box from Best Buy, look no further for your answer. Three Best Buy employees from a Bridgewater, NJ store were busted for removing items from their boxes and placing them inside the boxes of less expensive items, which they would then buy. More »
—>Here's an interesting lawsuit. The widow of an Air France passenger is suing that airline, claiming that their decision to bump her husband "caused him to miss a life-saving dialysis treatment at home." The lawsuit charges Air France with breach of contract, negligence and wrongful death. More »
Today California sued the EPA over its refusal to let states enact their own greenhouse-gas laws. "Fifteen states plan to intervene on California's behalf, including 13 of those that have either adopted or are in the process of adopting the rules. Delaware and Illinois, which have not passed the standards, also are part of the lawsuit." [New York Times] More »
Colorado infomercial company Video Professor this week dismissed its lawsuit against 100 anonymous defendants who had posted critical comments about its products and billing practices online. Earlier this month, the company withdrew subpoenas that had sought the identity of anonymous posters on the website infomercialscams.com.
Yay. The bums will always lose, Lebowski. Get a job, sir. Stop pestering people on the internet. More »
Those post-holiday TV sales just aren't enough for some people, because somehow, a 42" plasma set used for display in a retail store in Albany, Georgia, was stolen from the counter during business hours. More »
Ethan Thorn was an infant when his parents brought him into a Starbucks in Somerville's Davis Square in April, 2006. According to the lawsuit, a store employee serving a cup of coffee to Ethan's father accidentally spilled coffee on the baby's legs and groin, causing second-degree burns. The baby was in his father's arms at the time. More »
—>Chase is refusing to honor a cashiers check for $19.700.22, 82-year-old widow Willie Floyd's life savings. Willie stored the check, originally drawn by her late-husband in 1985, in a $10 per year safe deposit box at the local bank. When she tried to shift the funds into a regular savings account last year, she was told that the check expired after five years, and that her life savings now belonged to the state. More »
—> Well, this just further proves that real estate is the meanest profession. Dean "Cookie Kwan" Isenberg was arrested a week ago and charged with "posting fake escort ads on the Internet using a rival's phone numbers, sparking hundreds of raunchy calls" and text messages to the woman and her daughter. The victim, Debbie Blasberg, was a former coworker of Isenberg's who had "closed on a property he had been trying to sell." More »
—> Chuck Norris is suing publisher Penguin and author Ian Spector over the book "The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human". Among other claims, the suit states that the "book's title would mislead readers into thinking the facts were true." This means that apparently Chuck Norris cannot cure your cancer with his tears, he did not create a giraffe by uppercutting a horse, and he cannot speak braille. If only Kevin Trudeau could be so honest. More »
—>The Manhattan District Attorney's office is prosecuting a Bloomingdale's salesperson for running a month-long bogus gift card scam that netted $34,515 from the store, says the NY Sun.
It says Bloomingdale's sales receipts were the key element of Ms. Ng's alleged scheme. More »
—> CNN has a hilarious article about shopping safety that you should certainly read before you hit the mall this weekend for last-minute gifts. We're all for safety, but according to this article, letting your senior citizen wander off from the rest of the family is like like tying a fawn to a skateboard and pushing it into a den of lions: "He has to be at least 75 or 80 years old. Now, he's a potential victim." More »
A Cleveland contractor found what amounted to a $2.7 million fortune in the walls of a house he was renovating. The homeowner offered him 10%, but he wants to keep it all, his lawyers enacting a centuries old "treasure trove" common law provision. Steel boxes contained rare 1929-series Cleveland Federal Reserve bank notes, worth about $85 each, $500 bills and a $1,000 bill. Tipster Zakarth quipped, "If the contractor had found a poison leak would he take ownership of that?" What do you think? More »
Apple has agreed to drop its lawsuit against Think Secret, a website that specializes in publishing in-house Apple rumors and leaks. In return, Think Secret has agreed to stop existing. However, this means the editor also gets to protect his sources. [Think Secret via Gizmodo] More »
—> Ranjit Bedi, a Californian, has filed a lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard and Staples in a U.S. District Court in Boston, accusing the two companies of colluding to prevent the sale of third-party ink cartridges in Staples stores. Bedi is accusing HP of paying Staples over $100 million to get it to stop selling lower-priced ink refills, but none of the news sources we found supply any evidence to support that figure, so we hope Bedi has more than just a gut feeling about this. More »
—>Over at the Consumer Law & Policy blog there is a post about the legal troubles of Justin Leonard, the owner of InfomercialScams.com, a site that posts unedited reviews of various infomercial products. More »
—>The CPSI has announced its intention to sue Sara Lee over its "Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread," which claims to combine "all the taste and texture of white bread with the goodness of whole grain," when actually "there is more water in this product than whole grain," according to the CSPI. More »
Lazy, fat, inbred, black, pathetic, stupid, liar, thief, nigger. Those are some of the defamatory words Merchants Retail Credit Association (MRCA) used on Dolores Madduxes' family when they tried to collect on a debt Dolores Maddux, who is dead, owed CitiFinancial. For these violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Madduxes sued MRCA and won $854,389.81. Even delinquent debtors have rights and it's important to know them and call an attorney if they're being violated. More »
—>Ticketmaster is suing RMG Technologies for selling lecherous software that instantly sucks up tickets to everyone's favorite concerts and sporting events. Groups like RMG are the reason tickets sell out just minutes after going on sale, only to mysteriously reappear at outrageously marked up prices on ticket resale sites like StubHub. More »
—>Comcast has sued the NFL for breach of contract alleging that the league is breaking its contract with Comcast by encouraging the cable giant's customers to switch to other providers. More »
"Obviously, the results are disturbing," said the inspector general, Barry L. Kluger. He added that the investigation was not meant "as a sting operation" and that it was not possible to know if the missing items were stolen by transit employees or simply "wound up in the bottom of a drawer or in a wastebasket." More »
—>The Aurora Dairy controversy has spread to the retailers, as lawsuits seeking class-action status have be filed alleging "that Costco Wholesale Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., Safeway Inc. and Wild Oats Markets Inc. sold Aurora's milk under their own in-house brand names." More »
A woman who filed a civil lawsuit against Halliburton for being the victim of a gang rape by her coworkers in Iraq will have her day in court, kangaroo court, thanks to the mandatory binding arbitration clause in her employment contract. Jamie Leigh Jones says she was drugged and raped by her fellow workers, then imprisoned inside a shipping container and left without food or water until the US embassy came to rescue after the State Department got calls from her father. She says she was told she would be fired if she sought medical treatment.
There are over 48 lawsuits out there against Advanced Medical Optics for selling Complete MoisturePlus multipurpose contact lens solution that was recalled for giving people Acanthamoeba keratitis, aka, crazy fungus in your eye. Several of them are class actions. [PRWEB] More »
A private student loan company agreed to change its ways after being sued by the NY AG for deceptive marketing practices. The company licensed school colors, logos, team names, and and designed its materials to look like the University itself was making the loans. [NYT] More »
Atlantic v. Howell is a bit unusual because the defendants, husband and wife Jeffrey and Pamela Howell, are defending themselves against the recording industry's lawsuit without the benefit of a lawyer. They were sued by the RIAA in August 2006 after an investigator from SafeNet discovered evidence of file-sharing over the KaZaA network. More »
—>Verizon is finally installing FiOS in my area. But I'll never use it. I'll never sign up for another Verizon account in my life, and I'm encouraging my parents to change to a different service when their Verizon cell contracts end soon. Over the course of eight months, I've become completely appalled at the horrible customer service I've gotten from that company. More »
—>You may be entitled to a cash prize if you had a Visa, MasterCard, or Diner's Club Cards during any time between February 1 1996 and November 8 2006. A successful class action lawsuit contended that credit card companies overcharged customers for foreign transactions and didn't disclose the fees well enough. You can apply for a straight $25 refund, 1% of estimated foreign transactions, or annual estimation refund of 1-3% of foreign transactions for which you have records . Claim your moneys by filling out forms that were mailed to you, going to ccfsettlement.com, or calling 1-800-945-9890. It is not is necessary to have actually conducted foreign transactions to claim the money. More »
—>Van Miguel Hartless is suing the owner of a Rutland Burger King after biting into a Southwestern Whopper that contained a used condom. When Hartless complained to the manager, he "laughed off the incident." More »
—>Over at InfoWorld they have a story from a guy who was trying to sell something on Craigslist, and because he is savvy in the ways of the internet, did not fall for an obvious "overpayment scheme." More »
—> A senior database administrator for Fidelity National Information Services, a widely used banking technology and data providor, has admitted that he stole 8.4 million customer records from the company and sold the data to a broker, who in turn sold them to marketers. He could face up to 10 years in prison but will probably get less because he confessed. We think he should have to open, read, and shred every piece of junk mail that his victims receive for the next, oh, say 10 years instead. More »
—>Frances Joy Taylor had had about $2 million in assets, which she intended to leave to her church, before she met a businessman named Tyrone Dash. Dash took over her affairs and "methodically liquidated or leveraged almost everything she owned: her bank accounts and securities, her insurance policies, her credit cards, her two apartment buildings and, ultimately, her home," says the Seattle Times. Frances suffers from Alzheimer's. More »
—> A young man, his girlfriend, and his mother were arrested on Saturday for stealing $7.4 million from an armored car company last Monday in Cleveland, Ohio. They timed the robbery to occur after Black Friday and the ensuing weekend because they knew the company would be chock full of retailers' profits. Then they loaded a newly bought getaway van with the cash and hid away in Pipestem, West Virginia. The FBI tracked them down using old shopping receipts found in the girlfriend's abandoned pickup truck. More »
—>In a funny twist of fate, last week Facebook failed in its attempt to force a site to remove incriminating and/or embarrassing personal information about Facebook's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. We think Facebook missed a real opportunity here—they should have distributed the documents personally and attached ads to them. More »
GfK Mystery Shopping has issued a warning to be on the lookout for a mystery shopper scam making the rounds. Here are 12 warning signs to look out for. [Earthtimes.org] More »
—>Angela P. Williams tried for more than a decade to clear up her credit report after Equifax confused her records with those of a person with bad credit but a similar name. The company denied any wrongdoing, right up until the jury awarded a $219,000 verdict in damages against Equifax, and $2.7 million in punitive damages for violating the federal credit-reporting laws. The decision is a victory for frustrated consumers at the mercy of these powerful institutions whose record-keeping errors can ruin innocent lives. More »
—>The Daytona Beach Police Department say that a woman was tasered last Monday inside of a Best Buy store after attempting to use someone else's credit card to make a purchase. More »
—>A firm called Klausner Technologies has just announced that they are suing both Apple and AT&T for patent infringement over the iPhone's "visual voicemail" feature. Klausner Technologies has already sued VOIP provider Vonage and AOL/Time Warner for the same darn thing, and both companies chose to settle and license the technology from Klausner. More »
—>Mary Bach, the woman who sued Kmart for charging tax on toilet paper, has won her lawsuit and $100. Kmart offered to settle with Bach, but she declined. More »
—> The FTC's figure for identity theft in 2005 was 8.3 million Americans over the age of 18, a drop of about 16% from the 9.9 million it measured in 2003. (2005 is the most recent year for which they have data.) However, not only are consumer groups saying that these numbers are faulty, even the FTC admits in a footnote that "its conclusion is not 'statistically significant' because the sample size was too small." More »
—>TJX will be paying as much as 40.9 million in a settlement with Visa and the bank that processes their credit card payments , says the Associated Press.
The funds will be used to help U.S. credit card issuers such as banks recover costs related to the breach, which may have exposed more than 100 million cards to potential fraud, TJX said. More »
—>Around this time last year, computer manufactures were trying to convince people not to wait until Vista came out to buy a new computer. To that end Microsoft devised what was (and still is) considered to be one of the most confusing marketing campaigns ever. More »
—>A Walmart employee was hit by a semi, leaving her permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Walmart paid for her medical fees and her family successfully sued the trucking company. Now Walmart wants all the money she got from the trucking company. The family only has Social Security benefits and medicaid to pay for her 24 hour medical care. The company health plan contains a clause that allows it to recoup medical expenses it paid if the person also wins damages in an injury suit. This cost-effective management of the employee health plan is just another way Walmart delivers America everday low prices. More »
—>A Boulder couple lost 25% of their property after a neighbor used the legal principle of "adverse possession" to west control of it. For 25 years, Richard McClean and Edith Stevens used part of a vacant lot owned by their neighbor, the Kirlins. They extended their rock garden into it, held parties, and stacked wood upon it. Recently they filed to suit to take control of the land. The judge ruled that since the Kirlins hadn't contested the Stevens use before, they were less attached to the property, and awarded the claim to the litigants. Naturally, the case has caused an uproar in the Boulder community who are delighted to have discovered a land grabber within their midst. The Kirlins plan to appeal, and the Boulderites plan to hold protest picnics among the lots scrabbly grass and weeds. More »
—> This week, California's attorney general filed a lawsuit against 20 companies implicated in the various lead-tainted toy fiascos of 2007. The lawsuit "alleges that the companies violated the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986... because they didn't notify customers of toys in the marketplace that contained high concentrations of lead." The federal government doesn't require such labeling, but California does. More »
—> When TJX revealed earlier this year that they'd failed to keep safe over 45 million customer credit card accounts, they were hit with both consumer and bank class action lawsuits. Now they've submitted a proposed settlement for the consumer class action suit that includes a strange, somewhat insulting offer: a "one-day sale" for victims of the theft. Attorneys general from eight states have filed an objection against the proposal, citing that even if it's a well-intentioned goodwill gesture, it doesn't belong as part of any official, legal settlement, which should be designed to benefit the victims rather than the retailer. More »
—>The distributor of children's toy Aqua Dots, which contained beads that turned into a date rape drug if ingested, is refusing to give refunds to parents. Instead, they want to offer a replacement toy. Some parents are mad as they don't understand why they should forced to accept another toy from a company that sold them poison the first time around. Here comes the lawsuit! Parents who would rather get a different toy can go to aquadotsrecall.com. More »
—>Ars Technica is reporting that a California resident has sued Comcast for their traffic shaping shenanigans and is seeking class action status. He's accusing Comcast of "breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and violating the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act." More »
—>Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling takes a dim view of independently authored reference books, it seems. She's joined a lawsuit to stop the publication of a fan-written reference book based on a website that she herself admitted to using while fact checking her writing. More »
—>Comcast has issued a press release claiming that they're helping to solve crimes with something called "Police Blotter On Demand" a trial program launched in the Philadelphia area. More »
—> Considering the lifeblood of The Consumerist is publicizing stories of bad businesses and bad business practices—including drawing attention to personal stories on other peoples' blogs—we were happy to read that blogger Philip Smith won the federal defamation and trademark dilution lawsuit brought against him by a company he wrote about on his personal blog. Although it doesn't guarantee that other angry business owners or their legal teams won't come after you for writing about your unpleasant experiences with them, it cheers us to know that, at least in this case, a federal judge felt that Smith should be protected from retaliation for telling his side of the story. "It's not about the title, it's about the content, said Judge Henry Hurlong, Jr.; a journalist turns out to be anyone who does journalism, and bloggers who do so have the same rights and privileges under federal law as the 'real' journalists." More »
DENVER, Nov. 8, 2007 — The Denver division of Centex Homes has offered to give a house to Veronica Baca, one of the original finalists in a disputed home give-away contest in Denver. In addition, the Company has offered to provide furnishings for the home and payment for all reasonable legal fees that Mrs. Baca has incurred. More »
—>Veronica Baca thought she'd won a new home. She had been named a finalist in a contest. She pulled the lucky key that opened a prize door at halftime of a Broncos game. She toured the house. She agreed to let the company use her image in advertisements. She signed a form titled "Centex House Party Grand Prize Release." She was even in the local newspaper. More »
—>The RIAA defendant who lost her jury trial, Jammie Thomas, is telling her side of the story on p2pnet. Of particular interest: She claims that Best Buy made the decision to replace her hard drive, under the terms of her extended warranty, 6 months before she was served with the RIAA's subpoena. More »
—>Crafty identity thieves attached a credit card skimming device to a DVD kiosk at a Colorado Safeway. The 2-inch skimming device was discovered only after a customer asked a Safeway employee for help after his card wouldn't scan. More »
—>If you drink Folgers or Maxwell House, the coffee can on your shelf is the subject of a patent war between Kraft and Procter & Gamble. Both are accusing the other of stealing the innovative technology used to contain your precious morning fuel in a resealable plastic can that can "withstand the pressure changes that occur between the factory and the consumer's home." More »
—>In what BusinessWeek calls "financial Night of the Living Dead" credit card companies are refusing to stop reporting legally discharged debt to credit reporting agencies—illegally forcing consumers to pay debts that they no longer owe in order to get approved for mortgages. More »
—>Shopping addiction is really sad, especially when it compels otherwise normal people to do something insane like steal $2.89 million dollars just to buy shoes and jewelry. More »
—> A North Carolina woman named Quantina Moore-Perry pleaded guilty to wire fraud last week for stealing $412,000 worth of merchandise from television retailer QVC in 2005. She discovered and exploited a bug in QVC's online ordering system, where she would still receive the merchandise without being charged if she canceled the order immediately after placing it. She would then sell the items on eBay. More »
—>The pissed off Kmart worker who tried to get revenge against the store by putting rat poison in the ground beef has been sentenced to a year of house arrest, plus $4,000 in restitution to Kmart. More »
—> Sprint will relinquish unlock codes to departing customers in good standing as part of proposed class action settlement.The class was formed last year by California consumers who argued that the locked phones bound them to Sprint by making it more expensive to switch carriers. Sprint claimed that releasing the codes was unnecessary since the service contract clearly informed consumers that phones would only work on Sprint's network. More »
—>The FBI is investigating after the Colorado Rockies blamed an "external, malicious attack" for the meltdown that prevented fans from buying World Series tickets. More »
—>According to new court papers, Visa and Mastercard are saying that the TJ Maxx security breach actually affected 94 million accounts—more than double the amount that TJ Maxx reported. More »
—>The New York Daily News is reporting that a phony dentist dumped an ill patient on the curb after botched oral surgery. The patient, Colette Villemin, is on life support after suffering what may have been an allergic reaction during surgery. She's suffered heart and brain damage and may not survive. More »
—>Well Vonage, you lost. Huge. The New York Times is reporting that Vonage has settled with Verizon for one of two amounts, depending on whether the courts will rehear the case. More »
Man thinks he wins $1.6 mil at the slots, but then the casino takes him to a backroom and says they're not going to pay because it was a computer error. Because the casino is an Indian one, he might not have recourse through the courts. [ABC] More »
—> Last Thursday, a Texan filed a class-action suit against Systemax Inc. in federal court, alleging the company and its subsidiaries TigerDirect and OnRebate conspire to delay or reject rebates in order to sweeten profits. Systemax says no way, we pay our rebates on time; according to its chief financial officer, "All consumers who properly complete the rebate application and submit the required paperwork have their rebates paid, period." But that's not what the Texan says happened to him. More »
—>A woman who worked at a Verizon store at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, NY is accused of stealing the identities of more than 25 customers and using their personal information to obtain credit cards. More »
—> We are clearly a nation that treasures the concept of safety, because Taser International, Inc. reported a 150% increase in sales from last year that's due almost entirely to its redesigned consumer model, which now looks more like an electric shaver instead of a gun and comes in pink, blue, silver, or black. The company plans to start airing an infomercial later this year, so look for that on those late nights in December when all the Christmas programming has got you down. More »
—>A man who purchased a lawn tractor at the Edwardsville, IL Home Depot went back inside to buy some more stuff while employees loaded his tractor onto his truck. More »
—>We briefly mentioned a lawsuit in which a bride (who happens to be a lawyer) was suing her florist for $400,000 after she was disappointed with the wedding flowers she paid $30,000 for. More »
—>Consumers in twenty-seven states are suing Aurora Dairy, the nation's largest organic dairy for selling milk that failed to meet basic organic standards. The suit is bolstered by findings from USDA inspectors, who found that between December 2003 and April 2007, Aurora: "labeled and represented milk as organically produced, when such milk was not produced and handled in accordance with the National Organic Program regulations." More »
Emboldened by the easy victories of other telecoms, AT&T has directed its squad of time traveling super-lawyers to sue Vonage for patent infringement. [NYT] More »
—>A woman who suffered a miscarriage after taking chemo drugs that were supposed to be prenatal vitamins is suing Walgreens, according to the Chicago Tribune. More »
—>The Office of Thrift Supervision has issued a Cease and Desist order to WaMu because they're extremely crappy at stopping money laundering. According to the order, they must get their act together and file a new plan that insures they will be in compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act by March 31, 2008. More »
—>Three airline passengers who claim that cramped seating gave them deep vein thrombosis can continue with their lawsuits against Singapore, Delta and US Airways, a judge ruled. More »
—>Remember how Progressive got caught infiltrating a church support group and secretly recording it in hopes of discrediting two of its members involved in an insurance claim? And then their CEO posted a public apology, calling the incident "apalling?" Well, now, in defending itself against the lawsuit filed by the people whose privacy was breached, Progressive is calling its actions "reasonable." Progressive must be some kind of special alchemist to brew a concoction both "appalling" and "reasonable" at the same time. More »
Some newlyweds are suing a florist for $400,000 for messing up their wedding. They say they paid 30k for centerpieces of rust, fuchsia and dark green at $465 a pop, but were surprised to see cheaper flowers used to create pinkish-white centerpieces that ruined the overall look of the room. The florist says he has proof they got what they asked for and will counter-sue. We say we're in the wrong business. [Reuters] More »
Kilbride and Schaffer began spamming in 2003, sending out millions of spam messages advertising hard-core porn sites. The messages contained graphic images that were visible to whoever opened the e-mail. Later in 2003, the two men began using servers in Amsterdam to make messages they were sending from Phoenix appear to be coming from outside the United States. More »
—>A branch manager of a Queens, NY mortgage company has been caught opening fake Home Depot accounts using personal information obtained from loan applications and has been charged with grand larceny, says the NYT.
Mr. Milton is an immigrant from Bangladesh who was granted political asylum by the United States who had a cable television program in Queens for fellow immigrants from his homeland, the police said. More »
—> Maybe the T-Mobile lawsuit has scared AT&T a bit, because they've announced that they're changing their early termination policy: they will now prorate termination fees instead of charging a flat fee. They're also removing the policy that required existing customers to extend a current agreement or sign up for a new one when changing their level of service. No word on when these changes will go into effect, but there's nothing on their website yet. More »
—>We sort of suspect that the 10 American Airlines and Delta employees busted for running a drug smuggling ring at New York's JFK airport didn't really have their heart into the customer service aspect of the job. Probably distracted by the whole "life of crime" thing. More »
The Center for Environmental Health is taking legal action against Apple, because "the levels of phthalates (a group of chemical compounds... that increase flexibility) in the iPhone are in violation of California law." They say if the company doesn't agree to recall current iPhones, they will file suit. [Wired] More »
—>The Supreme Court has rejected Microsoft and Best Buy's appeal in the MSN racketeering lawsuit, says the Wall Street Journal, thus "ending a bid by the two companies to stop a class-action lawsuit over a joint marketing campaign for MSN Internet Access service." More »
—>A judge rejected a settlement that would have granted a $19 Sharper Image coupon to consumers who purchased the Ionic Breeze... and $1.8 million in fees to the lawyers. More »
—>RC2, whom you probably know as the company that makes the lead-tainted Thomas & Friends toys, has filed a lawsuit against rival Munchkin, INC for allegedly infringing on a spill-proof sippy cup patent. More »
—>Mattel's shareholders are upset. A pension fund in Michigan has filed a shareholder lawsuit against the company, claiming that they mishandled product safety procedures and were therefor responsible for 3 toy recalls this summer. The lawsuit also alleges that executives with knowledge of the defects sold $33 million in stock before the recalls were announced. More »
—> A class-action lawsuit was filed on October 5th against the unholy duo of Apple and AT&T, charging that they intentionally broke unlocked headsets via the last firmware update, and conspired illegally to monopolize parts of the mobile phone market by preventing consumers from using any services other than those provided by the two companies. The suit charges the two companies, either jointly or separately, with six formal counts, including "alleged violations of the California Business and Profession's Code, The Cartwright Act, The Sherman Act, The Federal Trade Commission Act, The Communications Act of 1934, and The Telecommunications Act of 1996, as well as rules and policies established by the FCC." More »
—>A website that charged Southwest passengers $5 to ensure that they'd nab the coveted "A" boarding pass has shut down after giving up its legal battle against the airline. More »
—>DirectBuy got more pushback than they expected after sending a cease-and-desist to InfomercialScams.com over the site's users calling the direct to consumer seller of furniture and home supplies a "scam" and a "nightmare." Absurdly, DirectBuy even tried to threaten legal action if their cease and desist was published, saying it was copyrighted! More »
—>Back in April, we told you that Sallie Mae was going to be sold to JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America for around $25 billion. Now JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America want to bargain, and Sallie Mae is now suing its potential buyers in an attempt to force them to honor the original deal.
Sallie Mae's potential buyers gave the nation's largest student lender until Tuesday to consider their reduced buyout offer in light of what they said was "the new economic and legislative environment that faces the company." More »
—>Vonage has settled a patent infringement lawsuit with Sprint, agreeing to pay $80 million. Vonage has also struck a deal with Sprint to license their technology, a move that helped boost Vonage's stock, according to the NYT. More »
—>A Pennsylvania K-Mart levied an illegal $0.28 tax on Mary Bach's $3.99 12-pack of Angel Soft toilet paper. Pennsylvania's sales tax guide clearly states that toilet paper is a non-taxable item. Mary first spoke with a cashier after noticing the illegal charge. When K-Mart again charged her the tax on a second visit, she decided to sue. More »
—>Here's another good reason to know how to exploit the executive customer service system for your cellphone company: so you can give them to the cops. If your cellphone is stolen and you try to request call records to help you track down the thieves, making a request through grunt-level customer service can take two to six weeks. By then, the trail is probably pretty cold. But if law enforcement gets your request in to the right level, Sprint says they can turn it around within a "few hours." More »
—>28 people in 8 states have fallen ill due to e. coli exposure from Topps frozen hamburgers and now a class action lawsuit has been filed against the meat processor and several grocery stores who sold the product. 10 people have been hospitalized. One has hemolytic-uremic syndrome, which causes kidney failure. More »
—>Walmart workers who were forced to work through breaks won an additional $62 million Wednesday. Sounds like a ton of cash, but the AP says, "The payments for lost wages are expected to range from about $50 to a few thousand dollars, depending on employment history." More »
—> In the U.S. they're called PoweriZers, but in the U.K. those springy pogo-boot things are called FlyJumpers, and the company that sells them has come up with a bizarre ad that appeals to... materialistic and amoral fame-seekers who are suicidal, we guess? The commercial—which is available on the Amazon.co.uk product info page—shows a bank robber making an amazing escape on his FlyJumpers, and getting away with thousands of pound notes. Then, inexplicably, it turns into a scene from "Final Destination." More »
A federal judge in California certified a class-action lawsuit against Target Corp on Tuesday. The suit claims that Target's website is not accessible to the blind, and the plaintiffs have accused Target of violating state and federal anti-discrimination laws. "All e-commerce businesses should take note of this decision and immediately take steps to open their doors to the blind," said the president of the National Federation of the Blind, a party to the suit. [Reuters] More »
—>More silliness from the RIAA, according to Ars Technica. Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG, was called to testify in the case of Capitol Records, et al v. Jammie Thomas. More »
Woman undergoes unneeded double mastectomy. [AP] More »
—> You're likely reading The Consumerist in the middle of a workday, so we're guessing you're receptive to new ideas on how to make lots of money fast without actually doing any work. Here's a great way: just make up some reason to sue Google. More »
—>Bob Dougherty went to Home Depot. He wasn't feeling very well in a "Jo-Ann Fabrics" sort of way, so he used Home Depot's bathroom. More »
A class-action lawsuit was filed yesterday against Simplicity Inc., Target Corp., and Graco Children's Products Inc. for their roles in the unfolding defective crib recall. The lawyer who filed the suit originally represented the family of a 9-month-old who died in 2005 from one of the badly-designed cribs, which can be dangerous if assembled incorrectly. [Chicago Tribune] More »
—>Mouseprint.org has read the fine print and they say you're probably out of luck when it comes to the TJ Maxx Settlement:
So, it is primarily shoppers who returned goods without a receipt during the relevant period who qualify for that part of the settlement. That amounts to some 455,000 people, a mere 1% of the total number possibly affected. These people have already received a direct notification of the breach from TJX, and will also be entitled to other compensation if they experienced actual losses. More »
—>Ohio Attorney General, Mark Dunn, is suing Citibank-affiliated credit card marketers for violating Ohio's consumer protection laws during a "Free Burrito" event at Ohio State University. More »
—>77-year old Peter Gossels won his 8-year lawsuit against Bank Of America for $10,000 in undisclosed fees the bank assessed when he deposited a large check drawn on a German bank. The elderly lawyer argued that the bank failed to disclose the exchange rate when he conducted the transaction. More »
The announcement did not specify the settlement cost, but noted that its estimated costs were included in a $107 million reserve included in its second-quarter report for fiscal 2008 and its estimate of $21 million in costs expected in fiscal 2009. The $107 million figure includes costs from other lawsuits not included in the customer class actions, the Framingham-based company said. More »
—> You might remember Tanya. She was falsely accused by the RIAA of sharing over 1,000 songs. Rather than admit they had the wrong person, the RIAA lawyers just wouldn't quit. More »
A local non-profit wants to know who would steal food from the hungry. A thief took a refrigerated Food Bank of the Rockies truck Monday that was stocked with enough food to feed 1,500 families. More »
A pregnant woman and her cousin used a U-Haul to steal clothing, baby goods, groceries, and Halloween decorations from three different Wal-Mart stores over the course of a single afternoon. More »
—> Let's say you bought a diet book that was advertised to provide an easy-to-follow diet that you can do at home and that allows you to eat whatever you want—and then, once you buy the book, you find out that it "describes a complex, grueling plan that requires severe dieting, daily injections of a prescription drug that consumers cannot easily get, and lifelong dietary restrictions." The FTC apparently thinks that's misleading, and they're going after Kevin Trudeau (yet again) for it. More »
—>When Google lobbied successfully for the inclusion of an "open network" requirement in the upcoming wireless spectrum auction, it was seen as a coup for consumers. The open network clause would mean that consumers would be able to take their handsets and devices to the network of their choosing. More »
—>It's Walmart's policy, clearly visible on their website and in their stores, that all sales of guns and ammunition are final. One San Diego man didn't like that policy so he tried to return the ammunition in another way. By firing it in the Walmart parking lot. More »
—>No, "over salting" isn't code for anything nasty. The 20-year-old McDonald's worker literally spilled salt on the hamburger meat that was used to make a "Big 'N Tasty" that was served to a Georgia police officer. More »
Three travelers claim British Airways acted recklessly in losing their luggage, and have filed a class action lawsuit against the airline, Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.If approved, they can expect many others to join. British Airways lost one bag for every 36 passengers this spring.BA travelers passing through London's Heathrow airport complain their luggage often doesn't arrive with them at their final destination. When it's finally delivered, it's often soaked and mildewy, owing to it being left outside the overflowing terminal for days, exposed to the elements.Lost luggage prompts lawsuit [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]PREVIOUSLY: British Airways Leaves Luggage To Rot Outside Heathrow (Photo: Bennetontalk)
"I went to my Credit Union last night to pay my car payment. I think during sometime between getting out the appropriate papers and leaving the place I must have misplaced my phone. On my drive home, I realized I didn't have my phone. More »
—>Best Buy employee Olivia Bailey, 18, was accused last week of stealing $13,000 from a Best Buy store in Lawrence, NY by using fraudulently obtained credit card numbers to purchase gift cards. More »
—>Attention Home Depot Employees: They really will fire you if you attempt to stop a crime in progress. That's what happened to 24-year-old Dustin Chester. He worked at a Home Depot in Murfreesboro, Tennessee until he caught and restrained a thief who he caught prying open a soda machine with a crowbar. Now he's unemployed. More »
—>Hey there, he's a tip from our good friends up in Canada: If you're buying expensive electronics don't assume you're not being followed to your next destination! More »
—>Sutton vs McDonald's Corporation (PDF) Frank Sutton orders a Mickey D's Chicken Sandwich on August 8th, 2005. Bites into the sandwich and hot lava grease exploded on his lips. When approached about the matter, the McDonald's worker says something to the effect of, "This is what happens to the sandwiches when they aren't drained completely." Sutton wants $2 mil for his damaged puckers. While that might seem steep, McDonald's should make be making sure their employees are properly draining the chicken sandwiches. More »
—>According to evidence the Philadelphia Inquirer calls "anecdotal," there seems to be a theft problem going on at the Philadelphia International Airport. Recently, quite a few baggage handlers were fired by US Airways for cooking the overtime logs in an attempt to get paid for work they never did. More »
—>If a creepy Time Warner repairman says he wants to 'be with you' while on a service call, you probably shouldn't let him back in your house. After making the comment, Steven James Hernandez was dispatched back to the house to fix a problem outside; instead, he decided to bang on the 28 year-old woman's door. From KENS 5:
Police said the banging at the door lasted at least 15 minutes, and the man at the door was Hernandez. More »
The El Segundo, Calif., toy maker sued Global China Networks LLC in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday over its Web site, www.chinabarbie.com. Global is a limited liability company organized in Florida and maintains a post-office box in New York, according to the complaint. More »
—>A lawsuit filed Monday asks Mattel to pay for lead testing to determine if children have been exposed to lead from the millions of recalled toys. More »
—>American Airlines has sued Google over search terms that include words that American Airlines has trademarked. For example, if you search Google for "Aadvantage," American Airline's frequent flier program, Google will display a link to the program, but also show ads from competitors. More »
—>Remember Tanya Anderson? After the RIAA's case against the 42 year-old single mother for downloading gangsta rap was dismissed with prejudice, Tanya turned around and sued the RIAA
The ex-husband of a woman who was murdered at a Christmas party along with 8 other people has been ordered by her landlord to pay her rent. The landlord says she gave insufficient notice to vacate the premises, and broke her lease. Apparently they require 60 days notice before being shot dead by your sister's ex-husband in a Santa suit. More »
